Riga, June 9 (LETA) - The party alliance New Unity has no ultimatums in the upcoming coalition talks in Riga and is ready to give preference to the Progressives' mayoral candidate Viesturs Kleinbergs in the coalition formation, Vilnis Kirsis, the incumbent Riga Mayor elected to the Riga City Council, stressed in an interview on the Latvian Television on Monday.

In his opinion, the citizens of Riga have expressed a clear desire to maintain Riga's European course.

"The citizens of Riga expect the coalition to be formed quickly so the work can be started. We certainly support this course. We do not have any demands, as was said yesterday, or ultimatums. We will simply wait to see what is offered, what is the vision," he said.

Kirsis is confident that the New Unity can get along equally well with all partners in a potential coalition - the Progressives, the National Alliance and the United List.

Asked whether his ambition was not to become the mayor, Kirsis said that although the results were close, the Progressives' candidate for mayor of Riga, Kleinbergs, had better results, so he had an advantage.

Asked to comment on the version that the National Alliance and the United List could block and offer their own mayoral candidate, Kirsis said that this had been mentioned, but he called for a wait. "I really do not think this is the moment to play some political theatre," the politician said.

Asked what the role of Latvia First, which won the most votes, would be in the Riga City Council, Kirsis said he hoped it would not play any role in the coalition work. However, as opposition, they can express their ideas.

As reported, negotiations on the formation of the next coalition will start today in Riga, the Progressives' mayoral candidate Viesturs Kleinbergs told LETA earlier.

Ainars Slesers' party Latvia First has won the largest number of votes in the municipal elections to the Riga City Council, but the parties Progressives and the National Alliance have also achieved very close results, preliminary election results compiled by the Central Election Commission show.

Counting data from all polling stations, the Latvia First won 18.17 percent of the votes, giving the list 13 out of 60 seats in the Riga City Council.

As many as 16.62 percent of voters supported the Progressives, giving them 11 seats, 14.2 percent voted for the National Alliance, giving it ten seats, and the New Unity, the party of current Riga Mayor Vilnis Kirsis, won 12.9 percent of voters' support. The New Unity will therefore win nine seats.

The joint list of Sovereign Power and the Union of New Latvians won 12.13 percent of the votes and won eight seats.

Two other political forces have entered the council - the Stability party, supported by 6.94 percent of voters, and the United List, supported by 6.29 percent of voters, which would allow them to win 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, did not get into the Riga City Council.

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

The turnout in Riga in these elections reached 52.2 percent.