PERSPECTIVE DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS DESIRE FOR STABILITY VERSUS DESIRE FOR CHANGE: Polarization of Attitudes During Latvia‘s General Elections of 2022 Iveta Kažoka Riga, December 2022 In the second half of 2022, Latvian citizens lived in very diverse emotional and informational environ­ments. One was dominated by a desire for stability, the other by anxiety and resentment, and the third by a desire for change. These competing desires de­termined the election results, increasing the rep­resentation of the leading party of the previous government, while allowing several new parties to enter the parliament. The voter survey shows a deep polarisation of Latvi­an society, with linguistic(family language) and so­cial(income level) lines of polarisation. For the first time in many years, the votes of Latvia’s Russian-speaking citizens were deeply divided – they went to eight different parties. In the 2022 elections, the winner of the previous four elections, “Harmony”, failed to break the 5% barrier. The main reasons for this are: a more intense competition, a weak social media campaign, and the desire of Rus­sian-speaking Latvians to vote for change. Differences of opinion between different groups of people in Latvia about its vulnerability, resentment towards the state, and perceptions regarding the lev­el of corruption of public officials are evidence of a divided society. There is a huge ethnic difference in assessments of whether anyone in Latvia can express their opinion on politics freely and without fear. 61% of Latvian-speaking citizens believe this is possible, while only 23% of Russian-speakers agree.