RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia’s ruling coalition lost its majority and two newly formed parties took more than a quarter of the votes amid widespread disillusion with the Baltic country’s politicians, the result in Saturday’s parliamentary elections showed with 80 percent of the votes counted. HELSINKI (AP) — An opposition party favored by Latvia's large ethnic Russian minority has won the Baltic nation's parliamentary election, but it's expected to face difficulties forming a ruling coalition after a vote that saw new populist parties surge and government parties falter. Una Bergmane, a teaching fellow in international history at the London School of Economics, said it is unlikely the party will be able to team up with Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis’ Union of Greens and Farmers, which polls suggest could come second. Read more: Latvia pushes majority language in schools, leaving parents miffed

Latvia, an EU and NATO member, is currently ruled by a center-right coalition of the Unity party, the Union of Greens and Farmers and the National Alliance, but opinion polls have shown it losing ground. “And perhaps they’re not happy with the neglect of social needs.”

Before the election, some Latvians feared a strong result for Harmony and KPV could lead to them forming a government and bringing the Latvia’s foreign policy closer to Putin’s Russia. Harmony’s leader, Nils Usakovs who has been mayor of Riga since 2009, may have the best shot at grabbing power following its decision earlier this year to end a cooperation deal with Putin’s United Russia party that had upset other Latvian parties. “I try not to think about it because it’s been so complicated that it’s hard to understand who’s playing the chess board.”

Latvia, a member of the European Union and NATO, shares a 276-kilometre (167 miles) border with Russia which makes it a frontline state in the increasingly hostile relationship between the West and President Vladimir Putin.
Voters in Latvia go to the polls to vote for a new parliament. The governing coalition loses its majority with two new parties Who owns the state? and the New Conservative Party becoming the second and third biggest parties behind Social Democratic Party "Harmony".