For Human Rights, part of the left-of-center ruling coalition at the council, nominated Tatyana Zhdanok to the office of executive director of Riga's Vidzeme district.
Human Rights Chairman Janis Jurkans announced the nomination to the media. "We hope that Social Democrats will respect our choice,"he told the Baltic News Service.
For Human Rights was given the opportunity to nominate a candidate for the executive director's post after the right-wing For Fatherland and Freedom Party broke the coalition agreement it had with the Social Democratic Workers' Party, which has the largest number of council seats. The Social Democrats said Fatherland's office holders on the council would have to go, so Deputy-Mayor Inese Vaidere from Fatherland was replaced by Aivars Kreituss of the Labor Party.
The Social Democrats' move to the left appears to have sent the popularity ratings of Riga Mayor Gundars Bojars into a tail spin. In an August poll by the SKDS social research company Bojars took 10th place in a ranking of the popularity of national figures, compared with third place in the previous month.
For Fatherland and Freedom is part of the right-of-center coalition which makes up Latvia's national government. It was criticized for working with the Social Democrats in Riga.
Asked by The Baltic Times when Zhdanok's appointment would be put to a vote, Bojars said the matter was "not yet on the agenda."
Zhdanok leads the Equal Rights Party which is one of the member of the For Human Rights alliance. Because of her communist past she cannot, under Latvian law, take elected office in a council or in the national Parliament. But the law does not prohibit former communists from holding executive office.
The situation is further aggravated by the fact that in the early 1990s, when Zhdanok campaigned to keep Latvia within the Soviet Union, the country's independence drive was spearheaded by Popular Front leader Dainis Ivans.
Today Ivans is one of the most popular Social Democrat members of the Riga City Council. If Zhdanok is appointed executive director of Vidzeme district these formerly bitter rivals will have to work side by side. Ivans has expressed misgivings at the prospect.
Interviewed by BNS he ruled out the possibility of Zhdanok winning the vote: "This is a nightmare. She can't be executive director. Maybe this has something to do with internal games within For Human Rights, but I think those who use their heads in this alliance realize they will never get her elected."
Zhdanok's nomination was a nod to For Human Rights voters, he added.
But Zhdanok expressed determination: "Ivans, as an inexperienced politician has probably made a premature assessment of my compatibility with this office. Given that Janis Jurkans, Latvia's foreign minister during the Popular Front period, was willing to nominate me, I think the Social Democrats will also agree to support my nomination, unless they prefer a split community to an integrated one."
Zhdanok highlighted experience she gained working for Riga City Council and as an elected council member before a court suspended her mandate because she was active in the Communist Party after Jan. 13.
More than 10 years ago when Latvia embarked on its independence drive, Zhdanok, who was prominent in the Interfront movement, sought to crush hopes of seceding from the Soviet Union.
There is now speculation that For Human Rights may attempt to raise the status of Russian to that of an official language. But Nils Muiznieks, director of the Riga-based Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies, said such a move would not work. "Municipalities do not have the power to change the regulations concerning language or education, but the leftists may try to push through their Riga city integration project,"he said. "A similar integration project is also in place in Ventspils and Rezekne. In Rezekne there are even special translators meant to help Russian-speaking citizens deal with documents."
Meanwhile, Jurkans dismissed fears that his party represented a threat: "We will be professional, constructive and businesslike. Not only will we show we can govern a city, we will show we can govern a country."
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