RIGA - The New Conservative Party will field three candidates for Riga mayor in this year’s upcoming local elections – the party’s leader Janis Bordans and the Corruption Prevention Bureau’s former officials Juta Strike and Juris Jurass.
Representatives of the new political party at a news conference today slammed the Latvian capital city’s current administration and stressed that they would not partner up with Harmony on the Riga City Council.
Bordans said that the party would have three candidates for Riga mayor but that Strike would be candidate number one on the New Conservative Party’s ticket.
Bordans also indicated that the party’s program would include several sets of issues the New Conservative is going to tackle. The party intends to ensure transparency in the Riga City Council, eradicate its corrupt system and make the city’s environment more appealing to its residents, guests, and investors. The party also mentioned maintenance of municipal properties in Riga as a pressing issue.
If the New Conservative Party comes to power in Riga it will introduce a new public administration model intended to make the local authority transparent, people-oriented and effective, Bordans said, adding that the absence of veteran politicians and the fact that the party is not funded by sponsors will make this task easier.
Both Strike and Jurass alleged widespread corruption in the Riga City Council, pointing to various schemes and embezzlement. Jurass claimed that until now Riga has been run not by real managers by schemers.
He added that jailing these people is only a matter of time. The New Conservative Party will ensure “order in Riga”, he promised.
“I know that there is not a single corruption-free department in the Riga City Council,” Strike said.
The two former anti-corruption officers also urged other people willing to get involved in the clampdown on corruption to join the new political party. “There is no other way – come and make politics fair and clean,” Strike said.
Other representatives of the New Conservative Party taking part in today’s news conference were businessmen Sandis Riekstins and Krisjanis Feldmanis who are also running in the Riga elections.
Riekstins said that he had drawn up his own estimates about the finances of Rigas Satiksme municipal transport company and compared his data with the company’s 2015 report. According to Riekstins’ estimates, Rigas Satiksme has misspent or lost at least EUR 24 million, and he suspects a similar situation also in other municipal enterprises.
The New Conservative Party is also determined to fix problems with the real estate segment and property management, improve the work of the capital city’s construction authority and introduce self-government.
The New Conservative Party is planning participation in the local elections also in other municipalities, such as Kekava, Talsi, Jurmala and Liepaja.
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