RIGA, June 27 (LETA) - The Riga City Council on Friday elected Viesturs Kleinbergs of the Progressives party as Mayor of Riga.

Kleinbergs was elected Riga Mayor by 34 votes to 22, with a total of 56 attending the council meeting.

Kleinbergs was supported by City Council members from the Progressives, the National Alliance, New Unity and the United List.

Meanwhile, opposition City Council members voted against Kleinbergs' candidacy.

The leaders of several City Council factions were also announced today - Kleinbergs will lead the Progressives' group, Einars Cilinskis will lead the National Alliance's group, Linda Ozola will lead New Unity's group, and Maris Sprindzuks will lead the United Lists' group.

As Mayor Kleinbergs said after the first meeting of the Riga City Council, if there are no hitches, the next meeting of the Riga City Council is scheduled for July 1 at 10:00 a.m., at which it will be decided to amend the Riga City Council's bylaws, stipulating that the Riga City Council will now have three vice mayors.

The makeup of the City Council committees will also be decided. The Mayor will also call for the first committee meetings to be held on July 2 to allow for the election of committee chairs and deputy chairs.

As reported, the Progressives, the National Alliance, New Unity, and the United List have signed a coalition agreement and an action plan for Riga. The coalition has 34 votes out of 60 on the city council.

As reported, Latvia First (LPV) won the largest number of votes in the municipal elections to the Riga City Council. Counting data from all polling stations, the Latvia First won 18.17 percent of the votes, giving the list 13 out of 60 seats in the Riga City Council. The joint list of Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians won 12.13 percent of the votes and won eight seats. Stability received 6.94 percent of the vote and five seats on the city council.

The new Riga coalition has also agreed on the distribution of committees as well as on the posts of vice-mayors. The National Alliance, New Unity, and the United List are each expected to delegate a candidate for vice-mayor.

In the new Riga coalition, the Progressives, who have 11 mandates, are expected to have the post of city mayor and control of the Committees for Financial and Administrative Affairs and Communication and Transport.

Current Vice-Mayor Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance) is expected to become Vice-Mayor in charge of security, property, housing and environment. The National Alliance will be responsible for the Committee for Security, Public Order and the Prevention of Corruption, the Committee for Housing and Environment and the Committee on City Property. The National Alliance has won ten mandates in Riga.

The Riga vice-mayor for education, culture, sport and family policy will be a representative of New Unity, most likely the outgoing Mayor of Riga, Vilnis Kirsis. New Unity will be in charge of the Committees for Education, Culture and Sport Committee as well as Social Affairs.

Meanwhile, the United List, which won four seats on the city council, is expected to delegate a vice-mayor and take control of one of the committees. Maris Sprindzuks is expected to be elected chairman of the Committee for City Property, and New Unity will take charge of the Committee for City Development.