In Latvia, ahead of the elections to the 15th Saeima, the Re:Check fact-checking project of Re:Baltica reviewed politicians’ statements during election debates. Fact-checkers identified exaggerations and false claims concerning spending on the public sector, healthcare funding and the rental housing programme, LSM English reports.

Spending on ministry employees

During the debate, Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs of the United List correctly stated the number of ministry employees — 3,500. At the same time, he claimed that the state apparatus with that number of employees costs 2 billion, and repeated the claim on social media platform X after the debate.

According to Re:Check, 1.97 billion in Latvia’s core budget for this year is allocated primarily for the salaries of employees at all state budget institutions, not only ministries. These institutions employ firefighters, police officers, doctors, judges and military personnel, among others — nearly 60,000 people in total. About 133 million is planned this year for the salaries of approximately 3,500 ministry employees. The Prime Minister’s Chancellery acknowledged that Kulbergs was mistaken.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Healthcare and rental housing

Edmunds Jurēvičs, head of the New Unity parliamentary faction, said on the LTV programme “What Is Happening in Latvia?” that healthcare funding had increased by 400 million during Hossam Abu Meri’s time as minister. Abu Meri took...

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