Valdis Zatlers

Valdis Zatlers came to power in Latvia not as a career politician, but as a respected orthopedic surgeon known for treating victims of the 1991 barricades against Soviet forces. His medical reputation made him a consensus choice for president in 2007, a largely ceremonial role. For most of his term, he presided with a physician's steady hand over a nation being rocked by the global financial crisis, which hit Latvia harder than almost any other country. Then, in 2011, he made a move that upended Latvian politics. After parliament refused to lift the immunity of a member accused of corruption, President Zatlers invoked a rarely used constitutional power: he dissolved the Saeima (parliament). This bold, surgical strike forced snap elections that were widely seen as a referendum on graft. Although he lost his own bid for re-election weeks later, his action catalyzed a shift, with voters punishing the established parties. Zatlers returned to medicine, but his legacy is that of a political outsider who used the scalpel of his office in a final, dramatic attempt to excise corruption from the body politic.