As reported, on October 23, the Saeima conceptually supported a bill on Latvia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, or the so-called Istanbul Convention, with the votes of the opposition and the Green and Farmers' Union (ZZS).

The bill was submitted by the opposition party"Latvia First" (LPV), but is also supported by other opposition parties - NA,"United List" and "For Stability", as well as politicians from the ruling coalition, ZZS. The coalition parties JV and"Progressive" do not support the withdrawal from the convention.

In the first reading, 52 deputies voted for withdrawal from the convention, no deputies voted against, deputy Didzis Šmits abstained from the vote, and deputies from the JV and"Progresīvos" chose not to participate in the vote at all.

Before the vote on the first reading, the majority of deputies decided to determine urgency for it, which means that it will be considered in only two readings. If the law has been adopted in the Saeima in two readings and urgency has been determined by at least two-thirds of the votes of the deputies, the President of the Republic cannot use the veto right to stop the promulgation of the law.

A total of 52 deputies from the opposition party and the coalition ZZS voted in favor of the urgency, 31 deputies from the"Progressive" and JV factions were against, while ZZS deputy Andris Bērziņš abstained from the vote. Thus, less than two-thirds of those present voted in favor of the urgency.

The draft law on withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention was submitted by the LPV. Initially, it did not even have an annotation or justification, which the LPV nevertheless provided within a couple of weeks. The LPV believes that the current practice of implementing the Istanbul Convention prevents us from gaining certainty whether state and local government institutions are implementing measures against violence and its risks in each case in accordance with the principles contained in the declaration.

In Latvia, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, or the so-called Istanbul Convention, entered into force on 1 May last year. It is an international treaty that requires its member states to develop a coordinated policy to better protect women from all forms of violence, as well as women and men from domestic violence. Among other things, member states must provide victims with comprehensive assistance and protection, crisis centres, a 24-hour crisis hotline, specialised support centres for victims of sexual violence, and protect and support children who are witnesses of violence.