Riga, June 8 (LETA) - The long-time mayor of Jelgava, Andris Ravins (Greens/Farmers), hopes to keep his post after the municipal elections and sees the "old team" together with the National Alliance and Movement For as the core of the coalition of the Jelgava City Council, the mayor told LETA.

The politician admitted that the Union of Greens and Farmers had lost votes in the city to the list of Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians. This, he said, was also "the fault of mass media".

"We are where we are. But I would like to thank the voters for their trust," Ravins said.

Negotiations on the formation of a coalition in the city council are scheduled to start on Monday and the "old team", the National Alliance and For will be invited to them first. The three parties have a total of seven seats in the city council, which does not ensure a majority, and Ravins did not comment on whether he would talk to the currently opposition New Unity or the Latvian Association of Regions, stressing that negotiations have not started with either party.

Although Andrejs Pagors, the leader of the Sovereign Power/New Latvians list, won the highest number of votes in the city, Ravins said that he would not be invited to the coalition.

Pagors, however, stressed in a Facebook post that if the parties that were talking about a change of power in Jelgava before the elections unite, then a change of power is real.

"If you take into account how much the election campaign cost the city mayor, how much administrative resources were involved, then such results of the opposition are even more significant," Pagors said of his success.

As reported, the leading political force in Jelgava for many years - the Union of Greens and Farmers - has won the local elections, according to data published by the Central Election Commission (CVK).

The Greens/Farmers, represented by the city council chairman Andris Ravins, won 18.98 percent of the votes in all 16 polling stations in Jelgava.

The joint list of the Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians received 18.52 percent of the votes.

At the same time, 10.73 percent of voters supported the New Unity, 10.31 percent - the National Alliance. 9.96 percent of the votes went to the movement For, and 7.62 percent to the New Conservative Party.

The Latvian Association of Regions also won 7.56 percent of the votes, while Latvia First won 6.65 percent.

The other parties in Jelgava did not overcome the 5 percent barrier.

The Greens/Farmers and the joint list of the Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians could have won three seats each in the city council, For, the New Unity and the National Alliance might have wone two seats each, and one seat for the New Conservative Party and the Latvian Association of Regions.