RIGA, March 31 (LETA) - Ainars Slesers, a candidate for Riga mayor from Latvia First (LPV) party, is confident that his party will win the forthcoming municipal elections in the Latvian capital, but says that the question whether LPV will need political partners to form a coalition remain open.

At the presentation of the LPV electoral list for the Riga elections on Monday, Slesers said that the most important aspect is not the winning of the highest number of seats on the city council but how many mandates the party will get and whether it will have political partners to form a coalition.

The question about the coalition is highly important, Slesers said, noting that the capital city's current coalition includes political parties with conflicting views, which hampers development.

As for cooperation with other political parties, Slesers said that LPV would consider cooperation with everyone ready to increase the city's revenue.

Presenting the party's electoral list, which includes 63 candidates, Slesers named a number of candidates whom he called Riga's cabinet of ministers. For instance, former Harmony member Andrejs Klementjevs would be able to work with social matters, and Andris Ozols, a former head of the Latvian Investment and Development Agency (LIAA), would be put in charge of the City Development Committee.

Karina Plaude, a lawyer and investigator at the Financial Police, would ensure a crackdown on corruption, and former NP Foods CEO Rolands Gulbis would work on private-public partnership projects.

The LPV electoral list includes several other well-known politicians such as former MP Ringolds Balodis, former Riga mayor Andris Argalis and former Riga vice mayor Sergejs Dolgopolovs, among others.

If he wins the office of Riga mayor, Slesers promises to develop the capital city's economy, sack around a third of public servants and initiate a redistribution of personal income tax revenue in favor to the capital city, which is the parliament's area of competence and cannot be resolved by the municipality.

In Sleser's view, Riga should compete not with Latvian cities, and not even with Vilnius and Tallinn, the capitals of Latvia's neighboring countries, but with Oslo, Helsinki and other major cities in Northern Europe. Latvia's capital must become one of the leading cities in Europe. The failure to develop Riga is a criminal failure, Slesers said.

He promised to one day ensure that the ground floors of most buildings in the center of Riga would no longer have "For Sale" signs. "Most of the cafes and shops will reopen. We will open everything in one day. We will make it happen. I have a plan how to do it," Slesers said.

If Slesers comes to power in Riga, he promises to start a construction boom in the city, with the future development projects including not only residential buildings but also hotels, because tourism will create value added to the city center.

The Latvia First leader promised that as soon as next spring, Riga and Stockholm will be connected by a daily ferry service, and more cruise ships will call in Riga.

Local elections will be held on the first Saturday in June.