Latvia: Finance Minister Resigns

Riga, 2 October 1996 (RFE/RL) -- Latvian Prime Minister Andris Shkele today accepted the resignation of Finance Minister Aivar Kreituss after the cabinet member was dismissed from his own political party.

Shkele will temporarily assume the post of finance minister and take the 1997 budget through Parliament.

Kreituss was forced to quit because only a member of a political party can be a minister. He was dismissed by the Democratic Party Samnieks, the largest party in the six-party government, which accused him of failing to fulfill the party's program.