Evika Silina
Siliņa was born in Riga on 3 August 1975. She studied at the University of Latvia from 1993 to 1997, where she obtained a bachelor\'s degree in law and at the Riga Graduate School of Law for a master\'s degree in social sciences, international law, and European law. From 2003 to 2012, Siliņa worked as a lawyer specializing in international and domestic business law. Her clients included firms in telecommunications and IT as well as government bodies. From 2011 to 2012, she was a legal adviser to the Minister of Interior. Siliņa served as the Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Interior from January 2013 until 23 January 2019. During her tenure as the Ministry of Interior\'s Secretary, Silina was praised for her openness to journalists, as well as for her fight against synthetic cannabinoids and their circulation in Latvia. She also represented the Ministry in international organizations such as the United Nations, INTERPOL, and CEPOL. On 6 December 2022, Siliņa was appointed as the Minister of Welfare in the Krišjānis Kariņš\' cabinet. The new cabinet was confirmed on 14 December. On 16 August 2023, after the resignation of Krišjānis Kariņš, the New Unity nominated Siliņa as a candidate for the post of prime minister. On 24 August, she was asked by President Edgars Rinkēvičs to form a government. The government coalition led by Siliņa won the confidence of the parliamentary majority in the Saeima on 15 September 2023. In her speech, the new Prime Minister emphasized the need to be more inclusive, which was interpreted as prioritizing gender equality and other progressive goals. For the Russian-speaking minority, inclusion assumes elimination of the \"non-citizen\" status and integration into the Latvian-based education system. The government also aims to increase the military budget and complete the construction of the barrier on the country\'s border with Russia and Belarus.[5] Siliņa is the second woman to become prime minister of Latvia, following Laimdota Straujuma in 2014–2016.
