RIGA, August 3, 2008 (AFP) - Latvia's President Valdis Zatlers Sunday announced he would submit legislation granting the people the power to force snap elections, after a referendum failed because of insufficient voter turnout.

'We must talk less and act more. The rights of the people to dissolve parliament have to be included in the constitution as soon as possible,' Zatlers told reporters.

He said he wanted parliament to convene on Wednesday so he could submit his draft, which lawmakers would then debate formally after their summer recess.

Zatlers' decision came in the wake of a referendum Saturday where 97 percent voted 'yes' to give Latvians the constitutional right to dissolve the Baltic state's 100-member parliament, a power that supporters claim is necessary to clip the wings of arrogant politicians.

Just three percent followed the government's advice and voted 'no'.

But the 'yes' camp failed because only 40 percent of Latvia's 1.5 million eligible voters took part, well short of the 50 percent required for the result to stand.

Zatlers, whose role is largely that of an apolitical figurehead, said he believed enough voters had made their views clear.

'We must listen to these citizens, hear them out and act,' he said.

'If 40 percent want this, it is parliament's duty to make it possible,' he added.

The 'yes' camp had claimed a moral victory Saturday, arguing that its hands-down score spotlighted deep public discontent with the government.

Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis's centre-right coalition drew comfort from the fact that most voters stayed away -- possibly because many Latvians are on vacation -- but the 'yes' showing was a major blow.

The specific goal of Saturday's vote was to change the constitution to allow voters to force snap elections by referendum, provided one-tenth of the electorate signed a petition calling for a plebiscite.

The government had warned that such referendums could undermine democracy because election-losers could exploit them to try to oust parliaments chosen fairly in regular polls.

It also underscored that no such power for the people existed in seasoned democratic European states, with only the tiny Alpine principality of Liechtenstein having an equivalent law.

But the 'yes' camp, comprising opposition parties from across the political spectrum as well as trade unions and anti-graft groups, said Latvians needed a way to halt what it called the murky political doings of self-interested politicians whose graft scandals regularly grab headlines.

Critics also charge many lawmakers with paying too little attention to the concerns of ordinary people in Latvia, which tops the EU economic growth table but is also gripped by rampant inflation.

Latvia, which broke free from the crumbling Soviet bloc in 1991 and joined the European Union in 2004, has suffered regular bouts of political strife over the past two decades.

Its current government is the 14th one since independence.

Public discontent over the state of Latvian politics came to a head last October and November, when thousands joined the largest rallies seen since the anti-Soviet protests of the late 1980s.