With each potential coalition partner, Rīga Mayor candidate Mārtiņš Staķis met for about an hour. Development/For!/Progressives (AP/P) proposed a draft memorandum of cooperation on which the new deputies of Riga City Council will continue their negotiations on Wednesday. The representatives of all the parties invited said that the details still needed to be talked about, but in general they supported Staķis.
Staķis said that he wanted dialogue with the opposition, but talks with other parties will not take place until there is a coalition agreement.
As regards job posts, Staķis pointed out that he had proposed to respect proportionality: the party with more members gets more posts.
If the agreement succeeds, the coalition in the council will have 39 out of 60 votes. In general, the coalition would be composed of seven parties, since several of them started in the Council on joint lists. Factions of “Progressives” and “New Unity” also include neighborhood activists who aren't party members.
Such a coalition would bring together ideological adversaries – conservative nationalists and liberal progressives.
“If there were no ideological differences then there would be one party. Therefore, it is normal that each party has its own priorities,” said NA/LRA mayoral candidate Einārs Cilinskis.
