Riga, June 8 (LETA) - The biggest losers in the recent municipal elections were the Harmony party, while in Riga the highest expected successes were not achieved by Latvia First and For Latvia's Development parties, political scientist Lelde Metla-Rozentale, lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Riga Stradins University, told LETA in a conversation.

The political scientist said that in the overall context of the elections, Harmony was quite a big loser, as the party not only failed to win seats in the Riga City Council, but also in other parts of Latvia, such as the Liepaja and Daugavpils city councils. Thus, in her opinion, this loss raises questions about the party's future existence.

She said that in her opinion, Latvia First was one of the losers in the Riga municipal elections, as the pre-election campaign and ratings showed that the the party's mayoral candidate Ainars Slesers would have more success. Latvia First is not very well represented in other parts of Latvia either.

Another political force that did not significantly achieve expectations is the party For Latvia's Development with the plan of Riga mayoral candidate Juris Puce. "Of course, in other parts of Latvia it is visible that For Latvia's Development is represented, but in the Riga City Council this plan did not succeed," the political scientist said.

She noted that the biggest winners in the elections in Riga were the parties of the Latvian-minded electorate, because despite criticism of the work of both the Riga City Council and the government, the parties managed to convince voters and gather votes for a potential coalition. Thus, the Latvian-minded parties did not lose their power in the Riga City Council.

The political analyst added that the party of the former mayor of Daugavpils, Andrejs Elksnins, Let's Go, Latgale!, won 14 out of 15 seats in Daugavpils.

However, the "clear loser", in her opinion, is the Union of Greens and Farmers, represented by the current Jelgava Mayor Andris Ravins, which marginally beat the joint list of Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians. "This is certainly painful for Greens/Farmers, because the party had a long-standing platform in Jelgava, but Jelgava residents want more dynamic development," added the political analyst.

She said that in many parts of Latvia voters were satisfied with the development of the municipality, which is why the existing parties have retained power in several municipalities. But in other places, voters do not feel supported by the central government, so parties opposed to the existing central government have done better.