Factions represented in Riga City Council still have not held official talks regarding potential mayoral candidates, politicians say.

Harmony faction’s leader Anna Vladova notes that the city council is taking a pause. On top of that, the party’s faction has yet to meet to decide on future actions nor has the party discussed the possibility of picking a candidate from one of its members. Previously Vladova said she is prepared to continue working with Honour to Serve Riga. She was evasive in regards to support of candidates from the opposition.

Valērijs Petrovs, head of the Independent Deputies Faction, says there have not been any official meetings with other factions.

When asked if the faction could pick one of its members as a mayoral candidate, Petrovs admitted that this is an «open topic». «Currently our faction has a vice-mayor and a head of a committee. We should wait until a real candidate appears. Once this happens, we will decide on supporting them. Currently it is unclear if the opposition has any plans to present any offers, nor is it clear if Harmony or any other party has someone specific in mind,» says Petrovs.

Jānis Ozols, leader of the New Conservative Party’s faction in Riga City Council, claims representatives of the opposition have not discussed any candidates.

«We have agreed to not push forward. Instead we will observe developments from the side. The majority of the opposition maintains the position that they shouldn’t propose their own mayoral candidate. Even Latvia’s Development has yet to invite us to any discussions,» says Ozols, adding that following the exclusion of two deputies from NCP, the opposition’s options of electing their own mayor have dropped even more.

As it is known, on 20 June the opposition in Riga City Council succeeded in dismissing Riga’s Mayor Dainis Turlais. He was in his post for less than a month.

31 deputies voted in favour of Turlais’ dismissal – nearly the entire opposition, non-party deputy Oskars Putniņš and the Independent Deputies Faction, which consists of four politicians excluded from Harmony – Valērijs Petrovs, Rosļikovs, Vitālijs Dubovs and Vadims Baraņņiks.

If no new mayor is elected in the next two months, Latvia’s Saeima will have the right to initiate the city council’s dissolution.