Varakļāni Municipality
Introduction '''Varakļāni Municipality''' () is a municipality in Latgale, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Varakļāni town, Murmastiene Parish and Varakļāni Parish of the former Madona District. The administrative centre is Varakļāni.Parts of Teiči Nature Reserve are located in the Municipality. The population in 2020 was 2,990.Within the 2021 Latvian administrative reform it was initially planned to merge Varakļāni Municipality into Rēzekne Municipality. After protests from locals, parts of whom wanted to either preserve the status quo or preferred joining Madona Municipality, the municipal council submitted a case to the Constitutional Court of Latvia in June 2020.On 28 May 2021 the court declared the planned merge is unconstitutional. However, on May 31 the Saeima voted to proceed with the merge, which prompted the involvement of the President of Latvia Egils Levits to avoid triggering a constitutional crisis. Ultimately, a decision was made to postpone the decision on the future of the Varakļāni and Rēzekne municipalities until 2025.Due to this, the 2021 Latvian local elections for the new municipalities were also held in Varakļāni.File:Varakļānu novads 2021.png|Map of the municipality, 2021File:Varakļāni palace.jpg|Varakļāni PalaceFile:Teiču purvs - panoramio - jurcuks.jpg|Teiči Nature ReserveFile:Murmastienes krucifiksa namiņš 2002-09-14 - panoramio.jpg|Crucifix hut in MurmastieneFile:Stirnienes Sv. Laurencija katoļu baznīca, 17.08.2014.jpg|Stirniene Saint Laurentius Catholic Church, Varakļāni ParishFile:Stacija Varakļāni - panoramio.jpg|Varakļāni Station
See also * Administrative divisions of Latvia (2009)
References