Although the Central Election Commission is still open for accepting candidate lists for the elections tomorrow, let’s take a risk and assume that no party will apply to participate in the elections anymore. This means that 14 parties and associations will participate in the elections for the 15th Saeima. For comparison, in the previous elections, as many as 19 political forces competed for seats in the current Saeima! Accordingly, the competition was even greater: in 2022, there were as many as 1,829 candidates vying for 100 parliamentary seats (more than 18 people per seat), while now there are 1,434 candidates (more than 14 people per seat). At the same time, it cannot be ruled out that we may end up with a few fewer candidates if, during the verification process, it turns out that a particular candidate cannot run due to an unexpunged criminal record or because they were once convicted of a serious crime. A bit of statistics: 78.7% of candidates have higher education, 19.6% have only secondary education, and 1.7% of candidates have only basic education (9 grades). By tradition, the overwhelming majority of candidates are representatives of the male population (66%). 74.3% of candidates indicated "Latvian" as their nationality, while Russians, according to the survey data, come in second place by number among candidates at 7.6%. Interestingly, 15.1% left the nationality section blank altogether. Twelve holders of dual citizenship are also eager to enter the Saeima. On Monday, July 6, a draw will traditionally take place in the Saeima, where each party participating in the elections will choose a number. According to this number, the lists will be arranged in stacks that each voter will receive.