President of Latvia

The president of Latvia is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia. The term of this office is four years. Before 1999, it was three years. The president may be elected any number of times, but not more than twice in a row. In the event of the vacancy in the office of the president, the speaker of the Saeima assumes the duties of the president. For example, after the death of Jānis Čakste, Pauls Kalniņš, the speaker of the Saeima, was acting president briefly in 1927 until a new president could be elected. The Latvian president's role is not entirely ceremonial, the president shares executive power with the cabinet and prime minister. However, the president is not politically responsible for carrying out all duties, and all presidential orders must be countersigned by a member of the cabinet – usually the prime minister. The current president is Edgars Rinkēvičs, former Latvian foreign minister, who was elected by the Saeima on 31 May 2023 after three rounds of voting, and began his four year term on 8 July 2023. This made Rinkēvičs the first openly gay head of state of any EU member state.