RIGA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Latvian Justice Minister Dzintars Rasnacs survived two successive no-confidence votes in Parliament on Wednesday initiated by two groups of opposition lawmakers, local media reported.
The opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) blamed the justice minister for poor job performance regarding his failure to ensure a proper oversight of the Insolvency Administration, the authority in charge of winding down failing businesses.
Last week, parliamentarians began debating two petitions on June 14 calling for Rasnacs' resignation, but the session was suspended as several MPs left to attend a commemorative event.
One of the proposals the parliament considered on Wednesday was a draft resolution on a no-confidence motion against the justice minister, signed by 16 MPs from the opposition parties Harmony and For Latvia from the Heart, as well as several unaffiliated parliamentarians, initiated by non-partisan MP Romans Mezeckis.
Another petition, signed by ten lawmakers and called for the justice minister's resignation, has been filed by the Latvian Association of Regions (LRA).
The LRA faction argued that Rasnacs should be held responsible for Latvia's seriously flawed insolvency laws, which have led to numerous violations and irregularities. LRA also alleged that for many years insolvency processes have only been providing gains to their state-appointed managers, whereas the state itself has seen little benefit.
However, both no-confidence motions against Rasnacs were eventually rejected as Latvia's center-right government coalition -- which includes the Greens and Farmers Union, Unity, and Rasnacs' National Alliance -- agreed not to rock the government and instead supported the justice minister, although at one point some MPs of the center-right Unity party had considered backing the no-confidence motion.?