New Vilnius mayor sworn in

VILNIUS - The new mayor of Lithuania's capitol city, Raimundas Alekna, has been sworn into office following the resignation of the former mayor over corruption allegations.

The Vilnius City Council voted Alekna in with 29 council members in favor and 13 against, the municipality said in a press release. The new ruling coalition is composed of the Conservative party, Social Democrats, Liberal and Central Union.

In a radio interview following his election, Alekna said he would not force through any major policy reforms. He said his main priorities would be adopting next year's budget, revision of the rent contract of heating supplies and construction of a facility to burn waste in Vilnius.

Alekna will take the post over from outgoing mayor Vilius Navickas, who resigned after the release of tapes in which he asked other members of the municipal government to delay investigations and decisions that would benefit the opposition parties by up to three years, while coalition documents should be processed within days.

His party, the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats, denied all knowledge of the requests and expelled him from their ranks. 

The next municipality elections are to take place on 27 February.