RIGA, July 25 (LETA) - Deputy chairman of Olaine Region Council Andris Vurcs (Sovereign Power/New Latvians), whose educational background is being questioned, announced his resignation before the council's meeting on Friday.

Olaine Region Council convened for an extraordinary meeting on Friday to vote on Vurcs' dismissal. Following his resignation, Dmitrijs Ivanovs (Sovereign Power/New Latvians) was elected the council's deputy chairman by eight votes to four.

Vurcs said in a Facebook post that he had taken a "very difficult but necessary decision" to resign as a deputy chairman of Olaine Region Council.

Although he makes no mention of his education in the Facebook post, Vurch promises to return holding his head high "when all the authorities are convinced of my innocence and when justice is restored".

Olaine Region Council held an extraordinary meeting today at the opposition's initiative to dismiss Vurcs, who allegedly provided false information to the Central Election Commission about his education. The opposition believes that Vurcs is undermining reputation of the municipality.

As reported, the Smart Administration and Regional Development Ministry (VARAM) is planning to turn to the State Police to assess possibly false information provided to the election commission about the education of Vurcs, the VARAM informed LETA.

The Law on Elections to the Municipal Council stipulates that candidates for election to the municipal council who knowingly provide false information about themselves in their candidate's declaration are liable to criminal prosecution under Article 272 of the Criminal Code, and if elected, the mandate of the council member in question should be annulled, the ministry said.

Neither the municipality nor the educational institution provides information about the person's education, so the ministry will turn to the police. The ministry says it will prepare an application to the police so that they can take appropriate action in the framework of criminal proceedings.

Latvian Television (LTV) reported, citing sources, that Vurcs may have falsely claimed to the election commission that he had completed secondary education in 2002.

Vurcs previously ran as a candidate from the Latvian Union of Russians (LKS) and has made no secret of his pro-Kremlin views, LTV reminds. He has published videos demonstrating how May 9 is celebrated, called Ukrainian nationalism Nazism, and criticized Latvia's refusal of Russian gas.

Vurcs' former schoolmates question the information he gave about his secondary education at Olaine 1 Secondary School. He was supposed to have finished 12th grade in 2001, but then he stopped coming to school regularly and did not graduate. Vurcs had indicated to the election commission that he graduated in 2002, but LTV has information that he did not take the centralized examinations in 2002.

The data in the State Education Information System has been available in electronic form since 2007, so the Ministry of Education and Science has no way of verifying whether the deputy mayor has received a secondary education certificate, LTV pointed out.

LETA also reported, Glorija Grevcova, a member of Vurcs' political alliance, lost her seat in the 14th Saeima after being convicted in a criminal case for providing false information to the Central Election Commission about her employment.