On 7 November 2006 Ilze Viņķele became the Secretary of Parliament of the Special Assignments Ministry for European Union Funds of Latvia.

In 2010 she was elected as a member of the 10th Saeima, however, she became the Secretary of Parliament of the Ministry for Finance of Latvia.

[1] In September 2012, 54 non-governmental organizations sent a joint letter demanding the resignation of Viņķele over two kindergarten booklets "The Day when Ruth was Richard" and "The Day when Karl was Caroline" whose publishing and distribution the ministry supported.

[2][3] On 17 July 2017 Viņķele and 4 other MPs (Ints Dālderis, Lolita Čigāne, Andrejs Judins and Aleksejs Loskutovs) left Unity, however she continued to work in the party's parliamentary faction.

[5] On 29 August 2017 Viņķele stepped down as a member of Saeima, being selected to study at the McCain Institute at the University of Arizona as one of the eight beneficiaries.