And the winner of Latvian presidential election is?

On his blog, Marko Mihkelson, an Estonian politician, says that the true winner is... Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the president of Estonia. Quote:

Now we can safely say that, after Vīķe-Freiberga leaving [the post of the Latvian president], Toomas Hendrik Ilves will become the most knowledgable leader in Baltics and, more broadly in Central and Eastern Europe. And maybe even in Scandinavia.

I essentially agree with that. I still hope our new president Zatlers turns out well. But he might not be a match for Ilves.

Mikhelson's remarks were quoted by several Latvian news websites and had an interesting effect on the readers (judging by the comments sections there). Valdis Zatlers was getting a lot of criticism. But, once the people read what Mikhelson said... they started to rally behind Zatlers. Nothing brings Latvians together as well as criticism from Estonia...