Who Owns the State?

Initially known as just KPV, it was renamed to KPV LV on 21 June 2016, as an association by the same name already existed.[10]

In July 2018, the party experienced a steep rise in ratings, reaching 7.0%, in comparison with 4.4% just a month before, and became the third most popular political party in Latvia. Political scientist Ivars Ījābs credited the case to Kaimiņš, co-chairman of the party Atis Zakatistovs and businessman Viesturs Tamužs being detained by anti-graft police in late June for an alleged illegal party financing that Kaimiņš claimed was politically motivated.[11][12] In August the party's rating rose to 7.5%,[13][14] but then dropped to 6.2% a month later.[15] According to the results of a survey organized by the Union of European Latvians and the web portal latviesi.com, KPV LV was the most popular political party in the Latvian diaspora in September 2018, with nearly 25% in support.[16] The party's prime minister candidate for the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election was attorney Aldis Gobzems.[9]

KPV LV received the second largest number of votes (14.25%) among the parties participating in the 2018 Latvian parliamentary election and earned 16 seats in the 13th Saeima.[17] After Jānis Bordāns of New Conservative Party (which also earned 16 seats in parliament) was unsuccessful in negotiating a governing coalition, President Raimonds Vējonis nominated Gobzems as Prime Minister of Latvia on November 26, 2018,[18][19] however Gobzems was also unsuccessful in forming a government and on December 10 Vējonis withdrew his candidacy.[20][21]

On February 4, 2019 the party board voted to expel Gobzems from the party, with Kaimiņš citing damage to the party's image as the main reason, while Gobzems claimed he was expelled "in the interests of Artuss Kaimiņš".[22] On February 6, 2019 Gobzems was subsequently removed from KPV LV's parliamentary group.[23]

A week later the party's co-chairperson and member of the board Linda Liepiņa stepped down because of KPV LV joining a coalition she did not support and the recent actions of Kaimiņš among other things.[24] After the latest developments in the faction and its vote in the presidential elections she also left the party and its parliamentary faction on May 29.[25] A day later Liepiņa was followed by MP Karina Sprūde who also left the party and its parliamentary faction.[26] The once-candidate for the office of the President of Latvia, MP Didzis Šmits left the main KPV faction on June 13, although he has not yet said that he will leave the party.[27]

The party has been described as right-wing populist,[1][6] populist,[28][29][30] anti-establishment,[2] and Eurosceptic.[6]

KPV LV's position on the European Union has been compared to that of Italy's Five Star Movement – not promoting "hard Euroscepticism" in line with the predominantly pro-EU majority of competing parties, but also taking critical stances of the EU's economic policies, including the euro.[31]