Guntis Ulmanis

Guntis Ulmanis
Guntis Ulmanis
	Ulmanis in 2010
5thPresident of Latvia
	In office; 7 July 1993 – 7 July 1999
Prime Minister	Ivars Godmanis; Valdis Birkavs; Māris Gailis; Andris Šķēle; Guntars Krasts; Vilis Krištopāns
Preceded by	Kārlis Ulmanis
Succeeded by	Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga
Personal details
Born	13 September 1939(age 84); Riga,Latvia
Political party	Latvian Farmers' Union
Spouse	Aina Ulmane
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Latvia
Signature

Guntis Ulmanis(born 13 September 1939) is aLatvianpolitician and the fifthPresident of Latviafrom 1993 to 1999.^[1]

Biography

Early life

Guntis Ulmanis was born inRigaon 13 September 1939. His great uncleKārlis Ulmaniswas one of the most prominent Latvian politicians during the interwar period, in 1934 he estalished authoritarian regime and subsequently adopted title of the president of Latvia. In 1941 following theSoviet occupation,Guntis Ulmanis and his family weredeportedtoKrasnoyarsk Krai,Siberia,Russian SFSR.^[2]

In 1946, they returned to Latvia, but were not allowed to settle inRiga,so they stayed atĒdolein theKuldīgaarea of theLatvian SSR.

In 1949, the remainder of the Ulmanis family was supposed to be deported in the upcomingMarch deportation,but Guntis Ulmanis was able to avoid that fate, as his mother remarried and his surname was changed to Rumpītis.^[3]In 1955 upon receiving his first passport Ulmanis chose to use his birth surname.^[4]

They then moved toJūrmala,where he attended school. After graduating, he entered the economic faculty of theLatvian State University.

Career in Latvia

After completing his studies in theuniversityin 1963, he was drafted into theSoviet army,where he served for two years. In 1965 he joined theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union.He began working as an economist at a construction site and was later promoted totramandtrolleybus administratorin Riga.

He was then advanced to the position of deputy chairman of the planning committee of the Riga Executive Committee (city government). However, his family ties with PresidentUlmaniswere discovered and he was sacked in 1971.

He then worked at lower positions in the Riga municipal service system. For some time he worked as a teacher ofconstruction economicsat theRiga Polytechnical Instituteand ofeconomic planningat theLatvian State University.

In 1989, during theSinging Revolution,Guntis Rumpītis quit the Communist Party and returned to using his original surname – Ulmanis. In 1992, he was appointed Council Member of theNational Bank of Latvia.

He also joined theLatvian Farmers' Union,his great-uncle's party, the same year. In 1993, following the first elections to theSaeimain 62 years, he was elected as the 5thPresident of Latvia(the first since the full restoration of independence in 1991). In the first round of the indirect election, he finished third (afterGunārs MeierovicsandAivars Jerumanis), but won in the runoff as Meierovics quit the race.

Presidency

As President, Guntis Ulmanis focused on foreign policy, building relations with international and regional organizations, as well as other countries.^[5]A major achievement was the conclusion of the Latvian-Russian treaty on the withdrawal ofRussian Armed Forcesfrom Latvia.

During his presidency, Latvia joined theCouncil of Europeand sent its application to theEuropean Union.He announced amoratorium on the death penalty,in accordance with the norms of the European Council.

In 1996, he was re-elected in the first round of elections, defeating Saeima speakerIlga Kreituse,Imants Liepaand formerCommunist Party chairman Alfrēds Rubiks,who was in jail at the time.

In 1998 President Ulmanis actively supported amendments to theCitizenship law,that would allow all people born after 21 August 1991 to obtain citizenship and would eliminate so-called "naturalization limits" (in which only a limited number of non-citizenship could receive citizenship within a given year). However, he was forced to send the law project on a referendum, after 36 nationalistic deputies, opposed to the amendment petitioned him to do so. He then actively and successfully campaigned for the adoption of the amendments by the population.

Retirement and subsequent return to politics

Guntis Ulmanis' term finished in 1999 and he was succeeded byVaira Vīķe-Freiberga.He retired from politics but became a social activist, founding the Guntis Ulmanis Fund, organizing the2006 IIHF World ChampionshipinRigaand heading theRiga Castlereconstruction council.^[6]

2010 marked a return to big politics for Guntis Ulmanis. He became the chairman of the newly created party allianceFor a Good Latvia,which was composed of thePeople's PartyandLatvia's First Party/Latvian Way.^[7]The alliance won only 8 seats in the October 2010parliamentary election.

However, Ulmanis became a Saeima deputy. In 2011 he announced he did not want to run for another term as a deputy in the2011 election.He, therefore, ceased being a deputy in November 2011, after the 11th Saeima was inaugurated.

Personal life

Guntis Ulmanis has been married to Aina Ulmane (maiden name Štelce) since 1962.^[8]They have two children: Guntra (b. 1963) and Alvils (b. 1966) and three grandchildren. In his spare time, Ulmanis enjoys reading history books and memoirs, playingtennis,basketballandvolleyball.He is known to also spend summers in his home inSmārde Parish.^[9]

He has written two autobiographies:No tevis jau neprasa daudz (Not much is required from you yet)(1995) andMans prezidenta laiks (My time as President)(1999).

He is a member of the international advisory council of theVictims of Communism Memorial Foundation.^[10]

On 21 September 2015 he becameCEOof the hockey clubDinamo Rigaafter the previous CEOAigars Kalvītisstepped down to take a CEO position in the companyLatvijas Gāze.^[11]