Latvian Interior Minister Linda Murniece, criticized for her handling of a computer hacking case, warded off a no- confidence vote Thursday in the national parliament, according to dpa. Following an hour-long debate, the parliament shot down the motion with a narrow majority of 48 votes to 44, with one abstention and three members of parliament choosing not to cast ballots. After the vote, Murniece told reporters she was pleased to be able to continue her work and accused the opposition People's Party - which quit the ruling coalition in March and called for the vote - of populism. "My dismissal would have served no purpose," she said. The decision gave Dombrovskis' minority coalition a small boost ahead of a general election scheduled for October. However, the unstable nature of the government was revealed in a subsequent vote on budget preparations. One government coalition party abstained, handing opposition parties a victory. The vote against Murniece was called over her response to an investigation into a computer hacker. In February, the hacker, 31-year-old Ilmars Poikans, downloaded 7 million tax records from the database of the national tax office. Poikans then leaked embarrassing details about top government officials and business leaders to the local press. Poikans was captured last week. In their efforts to find him, police conducted a heavy-handed raid on the home of a leading investigative journalist, sparking outrage in the media and criticism of Murniece's actions in permitting the raid. Murniece said Thursday she "strongly supported" freedom of the press.
