Latvia's former coalition party faces financial woes after losing public funding

A center-right party in Latvia is facing a financially tight situation after losing public funding over breaches of campaign spending, the party's leader Andris Piebalgs admitted Thursday.

The Corruption Prevention Bureau this week decided to suspend public funding for the Unity Party after a court found the party guilty of violating campaign financing rules and fined it 4,000 euros (4355.41 U.S. dollars).

Last year, the anti-corruption watchdog decided to punish the party for not providing full information about its campaign expenses prior to Latvia's 2014 parliamentary election and for exceeding the legal campaign spending limit.

Unity, which denies the accusations, filed a complaint with a Riga district court, but the judge dismissed the complaint and upheld the Corruption Prevention Bureau's ruling.

Since the last parliamentary election, Unity has been receiving 141,670 euros (154257.5 dollars) in public funding a year as one of the six political parties that received more than 2 percent of votes in the 2014 election.

Left without the financial support, the party may now face difficult times, although its leader Piebalgs does not think it will lead to Unity's demise.

The Unity party used to be the leader of Latvia's previous government coalition but has recently seen its influence dwindle.

The party's statement of income and expenditure shows that last year, when there were no elections, Unity spent more than 420,000 euros (457337.69 dollars), with public funding accounting for one third of the party's annual budget.

The penalty will make Unity tighten its belt, Piebalgs admitted, adding that the party will save money on advertising, campaigns and party offices. Endi