Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis

Who is Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis?

Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis is a Latvian politician. He is a member of Unity.

Kristovskis served in several previous Latvian governments as the Minister for the Interior from August 3, 1993 to October 28, 1994, when he resigned, and the Minister of the Defense from November 26, 1998 to March 9, 2004. He was elected to the Saeima in four subsequent elections since 1993, being a member of Latvian Way party in 1993–1998 and a member of For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK party in 1998–2008. From 2004 he was a Member of the European Parliament for For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK, but lost his mandate in the 2009 elections. Subsequently he was elected to the Riga City Council where he was the leader of the opposition.

In 2008 he founded the center right Civic Union party which became a founding member of the Unity coalition which won the largest mandate the 2010 Saeima elections. On November 3, 2010 Kristovskis became the Foreign Minister in the new Cabinet. In November, a scandal erupted in Latvia concerning the minister's correspondence with a doctor, who had expressed views perceived as Russophobic. Kristovskis survived the vote of non-confidence held on 9 November. Between 3 November 2010 and 25 October 2011 he served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Latvia. Kristovskis lost his seat in the Saeima as a result of the 2011 Latvian parliamentary election.