Veiko Spolītis

Veiko Spolītis (born 5 September 1971) is a Latvian politician, representing the Unity party . From 2014 until 2018, he served as an elected member of the Saeima.

Biography Veiko Spolītis was born in Riga to a Latvian father and an Estonian mother. Spolītis has two native languages: Latvian and Estonian.

In 1998, he became a lecturer of European Studies at Riga Stradiņš University; a position he held until 2010. After a stint as the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Defence, he became Deputy Minister of Defense of Latvia from 2010 to 2013.

In 2014, he made a bid to get elected to the 2014 Latvian parliamentary election but was defeated. Still, he won a temporary mandate in parliament while another contender who ran on the same electoral list of the Unity party but was elected, Edgars Rinkēvičs, fulfilled his duties as minister.

A few days before he was set to join Parliament, Veiko Spolītis was arrested for driving while under the influence of alcohol. His driver's license was revoked for two years. He announced his withdrawal from the Unity party, but continued to work in Parliament as part of the New Unity faction.