Latvia's president supports PM Kulbergs to form government after election win

VILNIUS, Oct 6 - Latvia's president on Tuesday said he will nominate Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs to lead the next government following an historic election win on Saturday.

• Kulbergs' pro-Ukraine United List won 35.3% of the votes, the biggest parliamentary election victory since Latvian independence in 1991, but still needs one or two coalition partners to form a majority cabinet

• United List and Kulbergs have broad support from other parties to start forming a government, President Edgars Rinkevics said

• The new parliament will meet on November 3

• Kulbergs came to power in May after the previous coalition crumbled over its handling of incidents in which stray Ukrainian military drones flew undetected into Latvia

• Latvia's economy has underperformed its Baltic neighbours for more than a decade and Kulbergs has vowed to improve governance, cut red tape and reduce public spending

• Although pro-Russian parties increased their representation in parliament, they remain sidelined and are unlikely to influence government policy, analysts have said REUTERS