RIGA, June 7 (LETA) - Considering the administrative territorial reform, the new municipalities will need longer time to get into work and put the new mechanisms into operations, said Gints Kaminskis, the chairman of the Latvian Association of Local Governments (LPS) who himself has been elected to the Dobele county council from the ticket of the Latvian Farmers Union.

He believes that the first assessment of the work of new municipalities can be made by the end of this year, but for a stable work more time should pass - up to two years.

Kaminskis said that local governments have to change their thinking and planning in relation to the new municipal territories.

"Thinking should be changed as to how mechanisms operate in the new territories, what happens with school boards, police, the whole planning. There is much work," said Kaminskis.

As reported, local elections in Latvia on Saturday elected 664 lawmakers in 40 municipalities - six cities and 34 new regions that will start work on July 1 as the administrative territorial reform takes effect.

The local elections were not held in Riga as snap elections were held last year, and in two municipalities - Rezekne Region and Varaklani Region - the elections will take place in the fall.

As many as 327,938 voters or 34.01 percent of eligible voters cast their votes in this year's local government elections, according to the Central Election Commission's data.

This is the lowest voter turnout since the restoration of independence.