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he majority of the Riga City Council lawmakers on Thursday supported Usakovs as the Riga mayor - 32 lawmakers voted for Usakovs, while 26 lawmakers supported the other candidate Martins Bondars (Latvian Alliance of Regions).

Usakovs told LETA that this has been the longest procedure to elect the Riga mayor in the history of the Riga City Council.

The new Riga City Council started its first meeting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, and it took more than nine hours to elect the mayor. About five hours were spent on a debate with both candidates, and later lawmakers took the floor to inform why the candidate they support is the best one.

As reported, the bloc of Harmony and Honor to Serve Riga has officially retained its majority in the Riga City Council after the local elections in June, with 50.85 percent of votes and has 32 seats out of 60 in the Riga City Council. Usakovs first became the Riga mayor after the local elections in 2009, and then retained the post four years later.

The four opposition parties – the New Conservative party, the bloc of the Latvian Alliance of Regions and For Latvia’s Development, the National Alliance, and Unity – have resolved to cooperate to form a strong opposition and will try to introduce a new approach at the Riga City Council.