Parliament Bans Unvaccinated Lawmakers From Voting On Laws, Getting Paid in Latvia

Latvia has voted to ban politicians from voting on laws, debating bills in person or virtually, or receiving their salary if they refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccination. The anti-democratic act of voter suppression led at least one U.S. public health authority to ask, “Why can’t we be Latvia?”

The Baltic nation’s 100-member parliament, known as the Saeima, barred elected lawmakers from having a voice in the nation’s laws by a 62-7 vote on Friday. The legislation took effect on Monday.

Beginning November 15, a legislator “will be entitled to participate in the work of the Saeima only if he or she has presented an interoperable Covid-19 certificate confirming the fact of vaccination” to the body’s Mandate, Ethics, and Submissions Committee, according to a press release from the governing body.

The Saeima paraphrased the MP responsible for the law, Juris Rancāns, as saying, “the law is necessary to promote public confidence in the country’s Covid-19 infection control policy, institutions, including the Saeima.”

Rancāns is a member of the New Conservative Party.

Lawmakers may also produce a certificate showing that they have recovered from COVID-19 or “an opinion from a specialist or council of a clinical university hospital” suggesting “the postponement of vaccination” for medical reasons, together with a negative COVID test. Everyone else must sit out legislative discussions, lose their ability to shape the nation’s laws, and lose their vote.

“The payment of the monthly salary and compensation will be suspended for the Saeima deputy who will not be entitled to participate in the work of the parliament,” the Saeima added.

The law will remain in effect until July 2022, although the president of the Saeima will reexamine the law at least every other month.

“The measure also applies to local government lawmakers …,” Euronews reported.

Nine MPs have refused, and 62 local lawmakers have yet to receive their certificate of vaccination, according to regional media.

In the United States, where vaccination rates have stalled, some public health officials said they would support similar measures for the United States.

“Latvia bans unvaccinated lawmakers from voting in Parliament and in municipal councils. #whycantwebeLatvia?” tweeted epidemiologist Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, an adjunct senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists and previously a researcher at Harvard Medical School. He also called the move “bold.”

The first business day after his tweet, NBC News sought out and quoted Dr. Feigl-Ding in a news story about Austria’s “nationwide lockdown for unvaccinated people.”

HUGE—Latvia 🇱🇻 bans unvaccinated lawmakers from

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