Riga - The field of candidates vying to be the next prime minister of Latvia narrowed to two on Wednesday, with President Valdis Zatlers hosting talks with front-runners Edgars Zalans of the ruling People's Party (TP) and Valdis Dombrovskis of the opposition New Era party (JL).

The search for a premier has included nearly every high-profile Latvian political figure, including EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, who confirmed in an interview with the Dienas Bizness newspaper on Wednesday that he had been approached as a potential candidate.

"I think that Edgars Zalans and Valdis Dombrovskis are good enough candidates for the premier's office," Piebalgs said in explaining why he had declined the offer from New Era.

After hearing pitches from both remaining candidates, President Zatlers will name his nominee for the prime minister's chair on Thursday, according to his official spokesperson.

Whoever he names will have to be approved by a vote in the notoriously fractious Latvian parliament. Failure to do so would see the whole process start again.

Incumbent prime minister Ivars Godmanis resigned on February 20 when two of the four parties in the ruling coalition withdrew their support from him.

Since then, Latvia's patchwork of political parties have been promoting their candidates for the job, bringing other government business to a virtual halt.

The urgency of breaking the political paralysis was underlined Tuesday evening when representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said they would be cutting short a mission to the embattled the Baltic state.

An IMF mission arrived in the Latvian capital, Riga, on February 17 to monitor disbursement of a 7.5-billion-euro (9.5-billion-dollar) economic assistance package brokered by the IMF in December 2008.

Christoph Rosenberg, the head of the IMF mission, issued a statement explaining the reasons for cutting the important visit short.

"The program supported by the IMF, the EU, and other bilateral and multinational donors is meant to sustain policies that will put Latvia back on a sustainable path, not particular political parties or coalitions," Rosenberg said.

"It will be ready to return to Riga and continue the discussions after a new government has taken office," Rosenberg said.

Latvia has already received 600 million euros from the IMF, and a further 200 million euros was due to become available after the successful conclusion of the departing mission.

The fact that the IMF chose to leave early has raised fears that the whole bail-out package could be at risk unless political stability can be established quickly. (dpa)