page_title: For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK
section_title: Government
hierarchical_section_title: For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK / History / Government
caption_attribution_description: English: Roberts Zīle (Latvia MEP, former Minister of Finance and Minister of Transport) in a press conference. Latviešu: Roberts Zīle (Eiroparlamenta deputāts no Latvijas, bijušais finanšu ministrs un satiksmes ministrs) preses konferencē.
context_page_description: For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK was a free market national conservative political party in Latvia. In 2011, it dissolved and merged into the National Alliance.
  The party was founded from smaller groups in 1993 as 'For Fatherland and Freedom', with a focus on promoting the Latvian language and putting a cap on naturalisation of Latvian Non-citizens. It won six Saeima seats in its first year, and 14 in 1995, when it entered the governing centre-right coalition. It merged with the moderate Latvian National Independence Movement in 1997, and moved its emphasis to economic liberalisation. TB/LNNK's then-leader, Guntars Krasts, was Prime Minister from 1997 to 1998. It remained in government until 2004, and again from 2006.
  Initially from the nationalist right, the party become more moderate after the 1997 merger. It also shifted from supporting economic interventionism to the free market. A predominantly ethnic Latvian party, the party's support base was university-educated, middle class, and concentrated in Riga. The party was soft eurosceptic, and was a member of the anti-federalist Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists.
context_section_description: "For Fatherland and Freedom" was a part of coalition governments from December 1995 to February 2004. From 1997 to 1998, its representative, Guntars Krasts, was the prime minister.  From February 2004 until November 2006, the party was in opposition. Although it only gained 8 seats in the 2006 election, the party was invited to become part of the ruling coalition, and it agreed to join.
  "For Fatherland and Freedom" campaigned as a strong supporter of Latvia's national interests and opponent of a federal Europe.  "For Fatherland and Freedom" won 29% of votes and 4 of Latvia's 9 seats in the 2004 European Parliament election.  In the 2009 European election, the party lost most of its support, falling from nearly 30% to 7.5%, resulting in the loss of 3 of its 4 European seats.
  The party attempted to join the centre-right Unity electoral alliance in 2010, but was rejected. Instead it joined with the more nationalist All For Latvia! (VL) in the National Alliance (Nacionālā Apvienība).  In the 2010 election, the Alliance won eight seats, with VL winning six of them and TB/LNNK reduced to two.
  In July 2011, both components of the National Alliance agreed to intensify their links and to re-organize the National Alliance as a unitary party under the same name. On TB/LNNK's 17th and last delegate conference, 84 of 90 party representatives agreed with the merger, 3 opposed and 3 abstained.
caption: Roberts Zīle, party leader from 2006–2011 served in the government from 1997 to 2004, and was TB/LNNK's candidate for Prime Minister in 2006 and 2010.
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