Riga opposition gathers signatures to suspend Mayor Kleinbergs

Opposition councillors in Riga have begun collecting signatures to seek the suspension of Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs, as political tensions rise after parliamentary elections, LSM reports.

Thirteen Riga City Council members were elected to parliament and are preparing to leave the municipality. While Kleinbergs is on a business trip, the opposition group Suverēnā vara/Apvienība Jaunlatvieši has started gathering signatures to initiate his suspension. The For Stability! faction has also signed the motion. Signatures from Latvia First councillors are still expected.

Vadims Baraņņiks, who is set to join the council for Suverēnā vara/Apvienība Jaunlatvieši, said Kleinbergs’s work had grounds for a resignation demand. He accused the mayor of misusing municipal resources to defend former council colleague Mārtiņš Eņģelis.

Eņģelis initially said he was leaving the council because of burnout. It later emerged that the Progressives had contacted police over his alleged sexual relations with a minor. Andrejs Kozlovs, head of the For Stability! faction, also said he believed Kleinbergs knew about the allegations before Eņģelis left the council.

Latvia First faction leader Edvards Šlesers said the coalition had done nothing to start Riga’s development and warned that the city would continue to stagnate without substantial changes.

Deputy mayors Māris Sprindžuks of the United List and Edvards Ratnieks of the National Alliance acknowledged unresolved issues between coalition partners and some stagnation in their work, attributing it to the election campaign atmosphere. A coalition meeting has been called to discuss the situation.