RIGA, Sept 18 (Reuters) -- Latvia's president said on Thursday she expects the country to vote "yes" to the European Union at the weekend, but a risk that the poll could turn into a protest vote against her coalition left room for nervousness.
      Surveys show those in favour of joining the EU outnumber those against by two to one -- roughly the same margin by which neighbouring Estonians voted to join in their vote last weekend.
      But around a quarter are undecided and President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told Reuters in an interview she feared a protest vote against her four-party rightist pro-EU coalition.
      "What worries me is that many voters will be answering a question they have asked themselves in the head, which is maybe not exactly the question the referendum is asking," she said, but still expected a final "yes" vote at around 62 percent.
      "I'd certainly feel more comfortable if the margin was larger."
      She blamed the pro-EU campaign for failing to stir much enthusiasm and win voters' hearts in the ex-Soviet republic, over a quarter of whose population is ethnic Russian.
      Like its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia won independence in 1991 after decades under Soviet rule and hopes EU membership will seal the country's freedom, as well as its at times painful efforts to develop a strong market economy.
      "The vote will determine whether we pursue the path we have been following since the renewal of independence, or all of a sudden we come to a full stop," Vike-Freiberga said.
      "The campaign has appealed to the rational man, but at times of voting the emotional man must be addressed as well."
      The nation of 2.4 million people fell under Soviet rule in 1945 and 65-year-old Vike-Freiberga, herself popular with voters, said a "yes" would mark the end of harsh outside rule.
      "I would like to see the last traces of the Second World War and its injustices to my people done away, and the best way to do it is to join the EU," she said.
      She fled to the West as the Soviet army chased out the Nazis from the Baltics, settling in exile in Canada as a psychology professor before returning to her native country in the 1990s.
      She became East Europe's first female president in 1999, and was recently re-elected by parliament for a final term.
      "WONDERFUL" NEW EUROPE
      Latvia's is the last of nine referendums by states hoping to join the 15-member EU next year. Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Malta have all said "yes," whilst the 10th newcomer Cyprus is not voting.
      EU enlargement will finally bridge the East-West gap, Vike-Freiberga said, and bring the novelty of democratic political and economic cooperation among Europe's small and large nations.
      "It will be completely new and, I think, quite wonderful."
      Latvia is the poorest among the accession countries with a GDP per capita of only 34 percent of the EU average, but it has seen years of economic boom and posted growth of 6.1 percent last year to defy a global slump.
      Some takes this a proof the fast-expanding economy is better off outside the rule-ridden EU bloc, but Vike-Freiberga said membership would safeguard further economic development as Latvia's trade is mostly with EU members or joiners.
      "You can bet your sweet life that it's not going to be Latvia who'll impose the conditions on how this (trade) is done, but it's the EU that will do it," she said, adding small Latvia would have more influence inside the EU than as an outsider.

      RIGA, Sept 19 (Reuters) -- Latvia is expected to vote in favour of EU entry to crown its return to mainstream Europe after a decade of post-Soviet reforms, but a grassroots snub could mute the cheer in the final enlargement referendum.
      "I will drink champagne if there's a 'Yes', and on vodka if there's a 'No'," said Oskars Kastens, deputy leader of the parliamentary European Union committee. But he told Reuters he did expect the pro-EU camp to win Saturday's vote.
      A "Yes" would mark a success for the historic EU enlargement from 15 to 25 members -- a relief for Brussels after Sweden rejected the euro last weekend -- while a "No" would leave the ex-Soviet republic an awkward Baltic outsider.
      Polls show around half the voters plan to support EU entry, with the "No" camp trailing at about 25 percent. Turnout is seen at around 80 percent in the binding referendum, way above a 50 percent turnout requirement.
      But about a quarter are still undecided, preventing the "Yes" camp from banking on a smooth ride after what analysts say is a limp campaign focusing on the wallet rather than values.
      Many distrust the European Union just as they did the Soviet Union in the small Baltic country which regained independence in 1991, regarding Brussels as too remote to care for the interests of a nation of just 2.3 million.
      Others feel forced by the establishment to support EU entry, having seen little benefits from a Baltic boom which saw Latvia's economy soar 6.1 percent in 2002, and could use the vote to protest against the pro-EU right-wing coalition.
      Latvia is the last of eight East European countries to vote on EU entry after they received invitations late last year to join in May 2004, together with Mediterranean Malta and Cyprus.
      Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Estonia have already voted in favour of EU membership, while Cyprus is not holding a referendum.
      PATIENCE PLEASE
      Starting from scratch in 1991, international observers praise Latvia for its strict fiscal management and a stable national currency, the lats, which have led to investor confidence despite much turbulence in domestic politics.
      But some say the EU will only mean higher prices for the majority and further gains for a small elite in one of the poorest new entrants with an average salary of $300 a month.
      World Bank regional director Roger Grawe urged patience, saying the average Latvian would soon be able to pick the fruits from a decade of economic reforms as living standards would likely rise to the European average in just 25 years.
      "The EU will continue to provide the impetus for development in Latvia," he said, but added sweeping institutional reforms were needed to facilitate further growth.
      Ethnicity continues to be a sensitive issue in Latvia due to the Russian minority of almost one-third of the population who settled during the Soviet years and may influence the vote.
      "Many of the ethnic Russians will vote against the EU," Baltic political expert Artis Pabriks said. "Joining the EU will increase the distance to Russia."
      Many Russians and other settlers from the former Soviet Union have yet to seek Latvian citizenship and are prevented from voting. They will need visas to work and travel in the EU.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvians began voting Saturday in the last referendum of the 10 candidate countries seeking membership in the European Union, seeking to cement the country's ties to the west after years of occupation.
      Voters in the ex-Soviet republic of 2.4 million people are likely to approve membership, but not by the decisive margins neighboring Estonia and Lithuania did, observers say.
      Along with Estonia, Latvia has been pegged as one of the most skeptical candidates for EU-membership. Most Latvian opinion polls show voters in favor of membership -- with between 55 and 65 percent of those questioned saying they would vote yes.
      "My husband and I voted yes for our grandchildren," Mudite Kremere, a Riga doctor, said when leaving a polling station shortly after voting started. "Latvia is a small country. We're not like Norway, which has oil, so we need to be in the European Union."
      More than 50 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last parliamentary election must vote in order for the results to stand -- 497,000 Latvians. There are 1.4 million eligible voters and more than enough are expected to cast ballots.
      Latvia's government and the business community strongly back EU entry, touting it as a way to ensure the political and economic stability in this Baltic Sea state, which regained independence from Moscow barely a decade ago amid the 1991 Soviet collapse.
      But critics contend membership will lead to higher prices and unsettled change for the country's residents.
      "The Latvian president and politicians are asking Latvians to accept higher prices and unemployment," said Normunds Grostins, director of a local think tank. "I think what we'll see today is most small businessmen coming here will vote no."
      The pre-referendum campaign has been low-key, with few visible advertisements on streets across the country. On the eve of the vote, some activists handed out balloons emblazoned with blue EU flags in parks around Riga, Latvia's capital.
      "(EU entry) means reintegrating into the family of European nations from which Latvia had been cut off by the Iron Curtain and by the Soviet occupation," President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told The Associated Press in an interview in Riga.
      Other leaders said they didn't even dare entertain the specter of a no vote.
      "Such a vote can bring instability and pessimism for those people who really want to develop our state and region," Defense Minister Girts Kristovskis said Tuesday in Finland when asked about the consequences if Latvians reject membership.
      Proponents argue that entry will give Latvia access to lucrative EU markets and that EU development aid will boost living standards. They also say accession will help deflect any future economic or political pressure from Russia.
      Latvia is also slated to join the NATO next year.
      That, combined with being part of the EU, could give the country the upper hand -- for the first time in its history -- in dealing with Russia, said Atis Lejins, head of the Latvian Institute for International Affairs.
      Russia "will have to realize they've lost us forever," Lejins said. "We will be part of the bigger EU-Russia relations and, since the EU is bigger and more powerful, it is a different story all of a sudden."
      Latvians say they also hope EU membership will help smooth another irritant with Russia: the status of native Russian speakers, who make up more than a third of Latvia's population.
      Russia has complained repeatedly that Latvian Russians are mistreated, noting that many are denied Latvian citizenship because they cannot pass the government-mandated Latvian language tests.
      Latvia has accused the Kremlin of using the language issue to bully the former Soviet state.
      Vike-Freiberga said EU membership would give Latvia's ethnic Russians an incentive to learn Latvian well enough to qualify for citizenship.
      "I think they will have a wake-up call when they realize that the Latvians, with their Latvian passports, are able to travel to Brussels to London to Paris and to Stockholm and if they don't have a Latvian passport they have to get the visa," she said.
      An EU spokeswoman in Latvia, Inese Svetina, later clarified that non-citizens in Latvia should have the same rights as Latvian citizens to travel freely in the borderless EU after a directive comes into law in two years.
      An array of groups opposed to the EU have been largely underfunded and have struggled to make their case. Posters glued to a street-side board in one Riga neighborhood depicted an EU flag crossed out with a red X, and a slogan underneath that read, "Don't be naive, vote against."
      Opponents say Latvia is in danger of trading one heavy-handed, over-centralized union -- the Soviet Union -- for another one -- the European Union. Others say the push to join the EU is driven by wealthy, politically powerful Latvians who stand to benefit.
      "One thing I know for sure is that all the benefits and the profits will go into the pockets of our Latvian officials," said Anna Vihlanceva, a university student in Riga.
      Still others fear tiny Latvia will have no say in European affairs and that any influx of immigrants would weaken Latvian culture.
      Freiberga said she was less concerned that voters would be swayed by such arguments than she was that some would say "no" from dissatisfaction with the government or other grievances unrelated to the EU.
      Freiberga said she hoped those who might be undecided "will think seriously about the future, and not just their own, but that of their children and grandchildren -- and about the isolation that they will be dooming their country to if they didn't say 'yes.'"

      RIGA, Sept 20 (Reuters) -- Latvians voted on European Union entry on Saturday with supporters expected to win the day despite some grassroots grumbles, in the final referendum of the bloc's historic enlargement.
      "I vote for Latvia in Europe," the ex-Soviet republic's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said as she cast her ballot in the capital Riga. "If I were a betting woman, I'd say 60 percent in favour."
      Polls close at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) with a full count expected four hours later. Preliminary data showed turnout had already topped 54 percent by late afternoon, clearing the 35 percent requirement to make the referendum binding.
      A "yes" would mark a success for the EU enlargement from 15 to 25 and give Brussels something to celebrate after Sweden rejected the euro last weekend. A "no" would leave Latvia an awkward Baltic outsider and end the enlargement on a sour note.
      Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Estonia have already voted to join the EU. The 10th nation to join, Cyprus, is not holding a referendum.
      Supporters say joining the EU will lead Latvia into the European mainstream and secure freedom, democracy and economic growth after more than a decade of painful reforms since regaining independence in 1991.
      Polls show just over half the voters plan to support EU entry, with the "no" camp trailing at about 25 percent. Turnout is seen above 80 percent.
      Almost a quarter are still undecided after what analysts say was a limp campaign, but the "yes" side seemed confident of a win and prepared for the party by putting up a banner in Riga saying "Hello Europe!" in Latvian and "Welcome" in EU languages.
      GRASSROOTS WARY
      But many Latvians distrust the European Union just as they did the Soviet Union, and regard Brussels as too remote to care for the interests of a nation of just 2.3 million people.
      "I voted against, otherwise we'll lose our sovereignty," said policeman Andris, echoing the "no" campaign's key argument.
      Prime Minister Einars Repse disagreed, saying Latvia would have more influence sitting around the table with its main EU trading partners than as an outsider.
      Others are suspicious of the establishment's desire to enter the EU, having had few benefits from a Baltic boom which saw Latvia's economy soar 6.1 percent in 2002, and may use the vote as a protest against the pro-EU coalition.
      Ethnicity remains a sensitive issue in Latvia as almost one-third of the population are Russians, and analysts say many worry EU membership will distance them further from Russia.
      Baltic duo Estonia and Latvia will bring a large Russian minority of about one million into the EU, most of whom have yet to seek citizenship and are prevented from voting. They will need visas to work and travel inside the bloc.
      (Additional reporting by Jorgen Johansson)

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvians voted Saturday to join the European Union, exit polling by state television and Baltic News Service showed.
      In exit polling of 1,000 voters, 69 percent said they voted in favor of joining the 15-member bloc, while 31 percent said they voted no.
      Preliminary figures released by the country's Central Election Commission were expected by 11:30 p.m. (1930 GMT).
      By the time voting ended at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), more than 68 percent of the country's 1.4 million eligible voters had cast ballots, the commission said.
      More than 50 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last parliamentary election -- 497,000 people -- had to participate for the results to stand. There are 1.4 million eligible voters and more than enough were believed to have cast ballots.
      Eriks Jekabsons, a member of parliament, said he was certain government tallies would have the same result.
      "It means that Latvia is going to return to the place where it used to be before throughout Latvian history," he said. "Latvia is not only going to join Europe as an equal member but can come with a contribution to Europe."
      The referendum was the last held by the 10 candidate countries seeking EU membership. Proponents called it a decision to cement the former Soviet republic's ties to the West.
      Along with Estonia, Latvia was pegged as one of the most skeptical candidates for EU membership, but opinion polls in the final run-up to Saturday's vote showed between 55 and 65 percent of those questioned saying they would vote yes.
      Estonia approved its EU referendum last week by a two-to-one margin.
      Polling was brisk during the day, thanks in part to sunny weather.
      Most voters were optimistic the issue would be approved, but acknowledged the country would not reap the benefits of membership overnight.
      "You cannot go to bed in Latvia and wake up in the European Union with all its benefits," said Aleksandrs Butorovics. "I don't think the older generation will fully enjoy all the good things brought about by the membership, but the younger generation will certainly enjoy the benefits."
      The yes vote is expected to be a boost for the EU, embarrassed by Sweden's decision last week to reject the euro.
      To date, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia have voted through referendums to join the European Union. Of the 10 candidates, only Cyprus has decided not to hold a vote on membership and will leave it up to legislators.
      All are expected to formally join in May, expanding the bloc to 25 countries.
      Latvia's government and the business community strongly backed EU entry, touting it as a way to ensure the political and economic stability of the Baltic Sea state, which regained independence from Moscow barely a decade ago amid the 1991 Soviet collapse.
      But critics contended membership will result in higher prices and uncertainty for the country's residents, warning that the country would be accountable to another faraway capital, Brussels, as it was under Soviet rule to Moscow.
      The pre-referendum campaign was low-key, with few visible advertisements on streets across the country. On the eve of the vote, some activists handed out balloons emblazoned with blue EU flags in parks around Riga, Latvia's capital.
      Proponents argued that entry will give Latvia access to lucrative EU markets and that EU development aid will boost living standards. They also said accession would help deflect any future economic or political pressure from Russia.
      Latvia is also slated to join NATO next year.
      That, combined with being part of the EU, is expected to give the country the upper hand -- for the first time in its history -- in dealing with Russia, said Atis Lejins, head of the Latvian Institute for International Affairs.
      Russia "will have to realize they've lost us forever," Lejins said. "We will be part of the bigger EU-Russia relations and, since the EU is bigger and more powerful, it is a different story all of a sudden."
      An array of groups opposed to the EU struggled to make their case. Posters glued to a street-side board in one Riga neighborhood depicted an EU flag crossed out with a red X, and a slogan underneath that read, "Don't be naive, vote against."

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) -- Latvians hailed their vote to join the European Union early Sunday, calling it just as important when they declared independence in 1990.
      But the celebration was marked by crisis when one party bolted the ruling coalition.
      A beaming, elated Prime Minister Repse congratulated some 2,000 cheering young people at an old town square in Riga -- waving and donning a blue EU T-shirt.
      "Latvians understand this is a decisive moment!" he said on a stage below a banner reading "Welcome Europe!"
      "You people will have a big role to play in the EU. Take advantage of it."
      With 768 of the country's 1,006 polling districts reporting, 69.9 percent voted in favor, while 29.4 percent voted no, the Central Election Commission reported.
      By the time voting ended at 10 p.m. (1900 GMT) Saturday, more than 70 percent of the country's 1.4 million eligible voters had cast ballots, the commission said.
      More than 50 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last parliamentary election -- 497,000 people -- had to participate for the results to stand.
      Amid the apparent success of the referendum, a government crisis arose, with one party in the center-right ruling coalition, Latvia's First, saying it planned to quit the coalition.
      The four coalition parties had apparently agreed not to withdraw before the referendum, which they supported, fearing it could hamper efforts to convince residents to vote yes.
      Guntars Krasts, from one of the ruling parties, Fatherland and Freedom, confirmed that the government was effectively pulled apart.
      "Latvia's First pulled out because of the prime minister, and they are opposed to his management style," he said.
      Repse came to power after elections in late 2002 after his New Era party emerged the top vote getter in the election.
      Repse appeared to suggest he was willing to continue with just three parties.
      "I believe we might as well work in a minority government," he told Latvian news agency LETA, leaving open the possibility that the current government could resolve their differences.
      The referendum was the last held by the 10 candidate countries seeking EU membership. Proponents called it a decision to cement the former Soviet republic's ties to the West.
      "In the last hundred years, we've had no generation that hasn't faced turmoil. The EU generation will be the first," said former prime minister Andriz Berzins.
      Along with Estonia, Latvia was pegged as one of the most skeptical candidates for EU membership, but the decisive vote countered analysts' worries.
      "I'm really, really happy," said Inguna Karnupa, a 24 year old student, clutching three small EU flags. "EU membership will make Latvia a better place to live."
      Estonia approved its EU referendum last week by a two-to-one margin.
      Polling was brisk during the day, thanks in part to sunny weather.
      Supporters acknowledged that benefits to joining would be come, but not overnight.
      "You cannot go to bed in Latvia and wake up in the European Union with all its benefits," said Aleksandrs Butorovics. "I don't think the older generation will fully enjoy all the good things brought about by the membership, but the younger generation will certainly enjoy the benefits."
      The yes vote is expected to be a boost for the EU, embarrassed by Sweden's decision last week to reject the euro.
      To date, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia have voted through referendums to join the European Union. Of the 10 candidates, only Cyprus has decided not to hold a vote on membership and will leave it up to legislators.
      All are expected to formally join in May, expanding the bloc to 25 countries.
      Latvia's government and the business community strongly backed EU entry, touting it as a way to ensure the political and economic stability of the Baltic Sea state, which regained independence from Moscow barely a decade ago amid the 1991 Soviet collapse.
      But critics contended membership will result in higher prices and uncertainty for the country's residents, warning that the country would be accountable to another faraway capital, Brussels, as it was under Soviet rule to Moscow.
      Latvia is also slated to join NATO next year.
      That, combined with being part of the EU, is expected to give the country the upper hand -- for the first time in its history -- in dealing with Russia, said Atis Lejins, head of the Latvian Institute for International Affairs.
      Russia "will have to realize they've lost us forever," Lejins said. "We will be part of the bigger EU-Russia relations and, since the EU is bigger and more powerful, it is a different story all of a sudden."

      RIGA, Sept 21 (Reuters) -- Ex-Soviet Latvia, the last of the prospective new members to vote on joining the European Union, on Sunday celebrated a resounding "yes" at a weekend referendum to crown the bloc's historic enlargement.
      But the victory may be cold comfort for Prime Minister Einars Repse whose rightwing coalition now appears in danger of collapse. Latvia's EU future assured, junior coalition partners may now mount a challenge to Repse as early as this week.
      Analysts said Repse, accused by rivals of "authoritarian" leadership, can draw on support in his own New Era Party. But extended political wrangling could raise uncertainty within the EU and NATO over preparations to join those groupings next year.
      In the EU vote, Supporters led nay-sayers by 67 percent to 32.3 with turnout at 72.5 percent.
      Many of Latvia's pro-Brussels voters hailed EU membership as the crowning achievement of the ex-Soviet satellite's "return to Europe" after more than a decade of painful reforms since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
      "For Latvia this is putting the final full stop to the sequels of the second world war, and wiping out forever the divisions on the map of Europe that the odious Molotov- Ribbentrop pact...placed there," President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said as she voted in the small Baltic nation of 2.3 million.
      Under secret protocols of a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 by the Soviet and Nazi German foreign mininsters Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop the then-independent Latvian state fell under Soviet control while Poland was partitioned.
      Latvia's weekend vote marks a success for the EU enlargement from 15 to 25 member countries and gives Brussels something to celebrate after Sweden rejected the euro last weekend.
      "We welcome a country that naturally belongs to us and we trust, that Latvia as the other future member states will enrich and strengthen the European Union. Welcome home, Latvia!" said European Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen.
      Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Estonia have already voted to join the EU. The 10th nation to join, Cyprus, is not holding a referendum.
      LATVIAN RUSSIANS
      Supporters believe joining the EU will secure freedom, democracy and growth in the poorest of the accession countries.
      But some Latvians distrust the European Union just as they did the Soviet Union, and regard Brussels as too remote to care for their interests in an enlarged union from May 2004.
      Many in the large Russian minority of close to one-third of the population, most of whom were not allowed to vote, worry that EU entry will distance them from Russia.
      Latvia has thrown open the possibility for the 644,000-odd ethnic Russians who came to live during the Soviet years to seek citizenship, but most have yet to apply and will need visas to work and travel in the EU. Together with Estonia they will bring about one million ethnic Russians into the union.
      Soon after the vote, the leader of the First Party junior coalition partner gave notice of political storms ahead, saying he could no longer work with Repse.
      Sources in the party said they would present Repse's New Era with an ultimatum on Monday, expecting support from the two other partners in the four-party coalition.
      The focus for any showdown could be a cabinet meeting scheduled for Monday.
      (Additional reporting by Jorgen Johansson and Patrick Lannin in Brussels)

      RIGA, Latvia (Reuters) -- Latvian Prime Minister Einars Repse Monday rejected calls from within his ruling coalition to step down, risking a walkout by three coalition partners just days after Latvia voted to join the European Union.
      "I will not step down," Repse, the leader of liberal New Era party which heads the government coalition, told reporters.
      Earlier Monday, three junior parties in the right-wing coalition threatened to quit unless Repse -- whom they accuse of authoritarian methods -- stepped down.
      The former central banker said he was prepared to lead a minority government while trying to form an alternative coalition.
      The government crisis is unlikely to lead to any shift in European Union or economic policies but could complicate the small Baltic state's preparations for joining the EU and NATO next year.
      Repse admitted he faced an uphill battle to keep his government on track. His party has only 26 seats in Latvia's 100-member parliament and the chances of him reaching out to the left-wing opposition look slim.
      "As a minority government, our work will be difficult," he said.
      The three parties said they would respond Tuesday to Repse's refusal to go and analysts say the three might quit the coalition and force a vote of no confidence to seal his fate.
      They may then hope to persuade New Era to stay in a coalition but with a different prime minister.
      CONCENTRATION OF POWER
      Former central banker Repse, 41, founded the liberal New Era party last year and led it to victory in elections a year ago promising to stamp out corruption, graft and mismanagement.
      The former anti-Soviet activist delivered on his promise, sacking some top bureaucrats, police and custom officials, while keeping the small country of 2.4 million people on course toward free markets and the European mainstream.
      Riding high in opinion polls, he still angered his coalition partners with what they see as a concentration of power around his office at the expense of other ministries and parliament.
      The Christian democratic Latvia's First Party, one of the three rebels, waited only until the referendum on EU membership was over last Saturday to launch an attack on Repse.
      Monday, it was backed by two other partners, the conservative For Fatherland and Freedom party and the Farmers and Greens party, in the call for Repse's resignation.
      Although one of the poorest EU newcomers in terms of per capita income, Latvia had the fastest expanding economy of them all from 1998-2002.