FACTBOX - Formation of a new government in Latvia

(Reuters) - Latvia's president on Thursday nominated Valdis Dombrovskis as new prime minister. The following is a rundown of what is likely to happen next:

-- Dombrovskis will now hold talks with political parties on forming a new government. He is likely to include his own New Era party as well as the four parties in the outgoing coalition.

-- Once he forms a government he has to take his list of ministers to parliament for a confidence vote. If he wins the vote, the government takes office.

-- If he fails the vote, the initiative goes back to President Valdis Zatlers, who has to name another candidate as prime minister to form a coalition.

-- Zatlers had earlier threatened to initiate a referendum on early elections if the outgoing government did not meet various goals. That threat still stands and some commentators think early elections could be a way out of any political deadlock over forming a new government.

-- Parliament has 100 seats. The four parties in the outgoing coalition were, in order of size, the People's Party, the Union of Greens and Farmers, Latvia's First Party/Latvia's Way and nationalist For Fatherland and Freedom.

-- The main centre-right opposition party is New Era, though the largest opposition party is Harmony Centre, which in Latvia is seen as left-of-centre and whose voter base is chiefly among the country's large Russian-speaking minority.