Riga, June 8 (LETA) - The Progressives are planning to start talks with other political forces on Monday about forming a coalition in the Riga City Council, Viesturs Kleinbergs, the leader of the Progressives list and candidate for mayor of Riga, told LETA.

He stressed that voters have expressed their opinion in support of the "state-minded parties", and now these parties must get down to work and form a united coalition.

The politician said that he would invite all state-oriented parties to the talks and encourage them to work openly, without intrigue and backroom deals, for the benefit of the voters. A similar coalition was formed five years ago under the leadership of Martins Stakis (Progressives), but it collapsed as a result of mutual disagreements.

Kleinbergs expressed his gratitude to the voters who had been mobile enough to show that they were capable of voting for forces that would lead Riga westwards.

Both the current Mayor of Riga, Vilnis Kirsis (New Unity), and the Vice Mayor, Edvards Ratnieks (National Alliance), have already admitted that the initiative to start coalition-building talks lies with Progressives.

A coalition led by the the Progressives could include the National Alliance, the New Unity and the United List. After counting the results of most precincts, the current provisional figures show that these parties could have 35 out of 60 seats in the City Council.

As reported, after counting votes in most of the polling stations in Riga, the party Latvia First currently has the highest voter support, according to data from the Central Election Commission.

A total of seven lists have made it to the City Council and the distribution of votes is expected to be fragmented, so at least three different lists will have to agree to form a majority coalition.

According to the data from 152 out of a total of 164 polling stations, Latvia First currently has 18.16 percent of the votes, which would currently give the list 13 out of 60 seats in the City Council.

According to the current results, 16.6 percent of voters have voted for the Progressives, 14.16 percent for the National Alliance and 12.93 percent for the New Unity of the current Mayor of Riga, Vilnis Kirsis. These parties would win 11, 10 and 9 seats respectively, according to the current results.

The joint list of Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians has so far won 12.17 percent of the votes and could win eight seats respectively. Two other political forces might have won seats - the Stability party, which currently shows 6.94 percent support, and the United List - 6.29 percent, which would lead to five and four seats respectively.

The other parties, including For Latvia's Development, Harmony, Honor to Serve Riga and the Union of Greens and Farmers, have not entered the Riga City Council.

In total, 60 deputies are to be elected to the Riga City Council.

The turnout in the elections in Riga reached 48.1 percent.