RIGA, July 23 (LETA) - There is uncertainty about another Olaine Regional Council member from Sovereign Power/New Latvians, Andrejs Lukasevics, about his education information submitted to Central Election Commission, LETA has found out.

Earlier this year, when running in the municipal elections, the representative of the joint list of the two parties said that he had graduated as an electrician from the Olaine College of Mechanics and Technology in 2000. In the 2022 parliamentary elections, running on the list of the Latvian Union of Russians, Lukasevics wrote that he graduated from the Latvian University of Agriculture in 2004, where he studied energy engineering.

When contacted, the Olaine Regional Council member initially told LETA that he was on leave from his main job at national rail company Latvijas Dzelzcels, where, according to Central Election Commission information, he works as an energy dispatcher.

Commenting on the data provided to the Central Election Commission on his education, the regional council members repeatedly changed his story about his university diploma. He claimed both that he was still studying at university and that he had graduated from university.

Lukasevics then interrupted the conversation, again on the pretext of being on holiday.

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 Olaine council vice chairman Andris Vurcs (Sovereign Power/New Latvians), 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.

Neither Vurcs nor the local authorities made any comment on the allegations.

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.

Vurcs did not answer LTV's questions, but the Olaine 1 Secondary School refused to disclose information about his education.

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.