In many ways, the elections of 2nd October 2010 were a call for Latvia’s 1.5 Million citizens to decide the future direction of their country. On the one hand the ruling coalition headed by Prime Minister Dombrovskis sought agreement for its austerity policies caused by the crisis; on the other hand the electorate had to vote on whether the business interests of Latvian “oligarchs” should continue to have significant influence on the country’s politics. On top of this, the ethnic Russian minority has been able to strengthen their position in local elections since 2009.