The board of the Republic (Republika) expressed no confidence in the co-chairman of the party Vyacheslav Dombrovsky (Vjačeslavs Dombrovskis).
It all began with a controversy. Sandis Ģirģens’ final day as Minister of the Interior was June 3, 2021. On that day, he was supposed to return items, including a government-owned Apple iPhone XR valued at about 1,000 euros. However, as per the Nekā personīga program (TV3), the former minister wanted to keep the phone.
The phones belong to the Information Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Iekšlietu ministrijas informācijas centrs) and the Ministry's employees, including the Minister, are not allowed to keep the issued devices for personal use. At Sandis Girgens' request, the head of the center, Liga Lapiņa, attempted to resolve the issue in a way that would make it appear that the phone had been destroyed.
Currently, there is a trial in the Latgalsky suburb court in Riga regarding the abuse of office. However, Sandis Girgens is only a witness in the case.
Immediately after the story was released, Vyacheslav Dombrovsky announced that Sandis Girģens should temporarily step down from his co-chairmanship in the party due to the smartphone scandal.
In response, Sandis Girgens stated that he believes the criminal proceedings were falsely made to retaliate against him and other honest officials for breaking the tradition of unfair purchases at the Information Center. He also mentioned that he was suing Nekā personīga and addressed the criticism.
On his Facebook page, Sandis Girgens wrote, “What would you do if your colleague Vyacheslav Dombrovsky, with whom we co-founded the Respublika party, secretly betrayed you? What if a teammate, despite knowing your innocence, demands your punishment instead of assisting in fighting the system?
The public dispute did not end there. The party's board, comprising four out of its six members – Sandis Girgens, Kaspar Girgens, Pucens, and Evgeny Korshenkov – called off the party's meeting scheduled for February 26, at which Vyacheslav Dombrovsky was set to be elected as the sole chairman of the board.
The official reason given was that 300 individuals, about 250 of whom support the wing of the party's co-chairman Sandis Girgens, were not allowed to join the party.
The board decided to hold a general meeting of party members in March. The plan is to make a decision on amending the charter to have a single chairman in the future. Considering the current events, it is unlikely to be Dombrovsky.
On Tuesday, February 15, Vyacheslav Dombrovsky commented on the board’s decision on Facebook: “The Respublika Party expressed no confidence in its founder, Vyacheslav Dombrovsky.” You don’t often read headlines like this. An explanation is required. Firstly, it was not the party that expressed “distrust”, but four members of the board (out of six): the Girgens brothers, Eriks Pucens and Yevgeny Korshenkov.
In the past, we noticed that we had different values than the Girgens and Puzens. It's not just about an office phone issue, which seems to have been taken by the former Minister of the Interior, who is also co-chairman of the party. We established a professional party, but unfortunately, we allowed dishonest people to join, whose goal was to take over the party from the beginning and lead it towards populism.
I'm confident that on February 26, a majority of founders would have decided to remove the Girgens and Puzens from the party leadership and elect a new board. It was unlikely for them to be saved, but a miracle happened, in the form of Evgeny Korshenkov.
The man who co-founded the party suddenly sided with the Girgens and Pucenses, despite my previous criticism of them. Korshenkov's betrayal gave the Girgens an advantage in the government and allowed them to bring in many of their supporters and start expelling those who did not support them.
What motivated Evgeny Korshenkov to do this? He did not explain to his former colleagues. Could it be because he was recently ordered to pay 147 thousand euros for damages to a company? I told Yevgeny that until his innocence is proven by an appeal in the district court, he cannot apply for the position of a member of the party’s board.
Regardless, it doesn't matter what motivated him.
A party is more than just a business registration number. It's about ideas, people, and the ability to convey and explain those ideas. You can manipulate your registration number and buy off someone, but you can't steal ideas if you're not smart enough to understand them. Will people follow those who are turning the “Republic” into something similar to KPV 2.0 and a national association?
There are ideas, a competent team, and we are ready to keep working and fulfill our mission for which we established the Republic Party.
Sandis Girgens, who became Minister of the Interior in January 2019, was nominated by the KPV LV party. By June 2021, the once popular KPV LV party had almost completely dissolved. Other parties in the government decided to continue without members from the fallen KPV LV – Welfare Minister Ramona Petravici and Interior Minister Sandis Girgens.
A bit of history. Attorney-at-law Sandis Girgens became Minister of the Interior in January 2019. He was nominated to work in the government by the KPV LV party. And by June 2021, this once popular political force was almost completely dissolved. Other parties in the government of Krisjanis Karins decided that the work would go better without the people from the collapsed KPV LV – Welfare Minister Ramona Petravici and Interior Minister Sandis Girgens.
At the end of August 2021, Sandis Girgens and Seimas deputy Vyacheslav Dombrovsky, who was elected to parliament from the Harmony party, founded the Respublika party.
