RIGA, June 15 (LETA) - There is life and work also in opposition,  Igors Prelatovs (Our Party), the outgoing mayor of Daugavpils, told journalists Tuesday, commenting on his party ending up in opposition on the city council after June 5 local elections. 

The outgoing Daugavpils mayor admitted that the city council has many difficult issues to tackle and stressed that all 15 members of the city council must therefore work together to deal with these issues. 

"There is life and work also in opposition. We are experienced people and will manage to solve issues with collective work and constructive decisions," Prelatovs said. 

Commenting on low voter turnout in this year's local elections, he said that conflicts and disagreements among councilors could be one of the reasons deterring many voters but that the warm weather and the Covid-19 pandemic also played a role. Some residents had already left the city, the mayor said. 

"The situation is the same in all Latvia, so make your conclusions," said outgoing vice mayor Livija Jankovska (Our Party).

Jankovska also believes that the statistical data about the Daugavpils population is no longer consistent with the reality. 

As reported, Harmony party and its leader in Daugavpils Andrejs Elksnins will form a coalition with Latvia's Russian Union (LKS) on Daugavpils City Council.

Earlier, Elksnins wrote on Facebook that Harmony has accepted the LKS proposal and is starting to form the city's new government. Harmony and LKS together will have eight out of 15 mandates on the city council.

As reported, Harmony party won local elections in Latvia's second largest city Daugavpils by a wide margin on Saturday, receiving 42.25 percent of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission's data.

Former Daugavpils mayor Andrejs Elksnins and councilor Valerijs Kononovs received the highest voter support.

Daugavpils mayor Igors Prelatovs' Our Party won 14.12 percent of the vote and the joint ticket of Latgale Party and For Development of Latvia received 13.25 percent.

Daugavpils Region Party followed with 9.64 percent, Latvia's Russian Union with 8.22 percent, Alternative with 4.06 percent, the Union of Greens and Farmers with 2.88 percent, Christian Democratic Union with 2.88 percent, New Conservative Party with 1.28 percent and New Harmony with 1.04 percent.