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Latvian National Independence Movement
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<p>The Latvian National Independence Movement was a political organization in <a href="/facts/Latvia/y2PSa8lx">Latvia</a> from 1988 until 1997. </p> <p>It formed in 1988 as the radical wing of Latvian nationalist movement. Unlike the mainstream <a href="/facts/Tautas_Fronte/d3gdAwjx">Latvian Popular Front</a>, which had supported more autonomy for Latvia within the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a>, LNNK insisted on independence from its beginning. The leaders of LNNK included <a href="/facts/Eduards_Berklavs/B2mlrooX">Eduards Berklavs</a>, <a href="/facts/Aleksandrs_Kir%C5%A1teins/5sJ8cN8r">Aleksandrs Kiršteins</a>, Andrejs Krastiņš, <a href="/facts/Einars_Rep%C5%A1e/HxokLrpb">Einars Repše</a> and Juris Dobelis. </p><p>After Latvia <a href="/facts/On_the_Restoration_of_Independence_of_the_Republic_of_Latvia/PGReEwwh">regained independence</a>, LNNK became a political party and renamed itself the National Conservative Party. It won 15 seats out of 100 in the <a href="/facts/1993_Latvian_parliamentary_election/WUpK5vhy">1993 parliamentary election</a> and was an influential opposition party. In 1993 its candidate for Prime Minister was <a href="/facts/Joachim_Siegerist/s17mggQK">Joachim Siegerist</a>, who lost by only one vote and ended up second. LNNK won the municipal election in the Latvian capital, <a href="/facts/Riga/PCWbJn2h">Riga</a> in 1994 but its popularity quickly faded after that. It lost half of its seats in the <a href="/facts/Saeima/hFGt33Hp">parliament</a> in the <a href="/facts/1995_Latvian_parliamentary_election/8jb2cEeQ">1995 parliamentary election</a> and eventually merged with <i>Tēvzemei un Brīvībai</i> (<a href="/facts/For_Fatherland_and_Freedom/kEWE8rPb">For Fatherland and Freedom</a>) in 1997, another right-wing party with similar origins in the Latvian independence movement. </p><p>After entering into an alliance with For Fatherland and Freedom, the party increasingly sought to propagate a particularly 'Latvian' vision for Latvia as highlighted by a series of controversial adverts encouraging the consumption of Latvian goods, and warning of the dangers of non-Latvians. </p><p>An organization with similar aims and almost identical name, the <a href="/facts/Estonian_National_Independence_Party/eq4DeA71">Estonian National Independence Party</a> existed in Estonia. </p>