PERSPECTIVE DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS CORRUPTION AS GAME CHANGER: lessons learned and context to the Riga city council snap elections Jānis Ikstens Riga, November 2020 The dismissal of Riga city coun­cil was caused to a large extent by corruption scandals and triggered snap elections in late August 2020. Because of the capital city’s economic weight and population share, the re­sults of these elections are of pivotal importance, coming two years before the next na­tional parliamentary elections. The passive stance of the social democratic Harmony party (Saskaņa) and the actions of political leaders are likely to have been more important than the party programme in affecting the results of the elec­tions. The results constitute a land­slide victory for challenger po­litical forces. The reasons can be traced not only to public dissatisfaction with corruption, but also to the broader politi­cal party landscape.