Daugavpils has had four mayors in the last three years. There have also been several loud scandals. Among other things, for the second time during this term, Mayor Andrejs Elksniņš was ousted from office (“Harmony”).
Daugavpils City Council has stood out with special instability in this term of office. Political peripetias, change of power and overthrow of mayors. This has been a common phenomenon here for the last three years.
Three years – four measures. Rich balance. At the beginning of this council term, in 2017 Andrejs Elksniņš was elected the chairman of the city council. Following the example of the Mayor of Riga Nila Ušakovs (“Harmony”), even a cat was accommodated in the office, but the joys were short-lived. A few months later, Elksniņš was ousted, and Rihards Eigims (“Our Party”) became the head of Latvia’s second largest city. He held the keys to Daugavpils for a little over a year, when Elksniņš returned to the mayor’s chair as a result of another coup.
During these years, the municipality has been accompanied by various scandals. The largest of them is related to the procurement of reconstruction of educational institutions, in which the company “Modus būve” won. At the end of 2018, the KNAB detained Eigim on suspicion of demanding a bribe, who himself denies the accused. Last year, Daugavpils City Council appealed to the State Police against the board of Modus būve, which is already insolvent and involved in a corruption scandal.
It is a school on Parades Street. The municipality had entered into an agreement with Modus būve for its reconstruction. Prepayment of 300,000 euros, but no construction work was performed.
At the beginning of the summer, another turn in Daugavpils “Games of Thrones” – for the second time in this term, the mayor Elksniņš was ousted. At the end of June, Igor Prelatov was elected mayor, and this week the council leadership had its first official meeting with the press in the new composition. Much of the communication took place in Russian, with both questions and answers translated into the official language at the request of the event participant. The new management of Daugavpils believes that it is possible to work in this composition until the end of the term.
“For stability, time will tell. The main thing is that politics is work that can be seen and touched, ”said Prelatov.
Daugavpils Deputy Mayor Jānis Lāčplēsis (“Latgale Party”) pointed out: “Eigims and Elksniņš – it was a disaster. Our political task was to divide this political duo and neutralize their negative influence on the city. Now the management does not depend on Elksniņš or Eigima. Therefore, there is every opportunity to work successfully. ”
Prelatov has named work on city improvement and infrastructure projects as his primary task under the leadership of the city council. He also promises to do everything possible to allow the municipality to recover the 300,000 euros paid for the “Modus construction”.
Former Mayor Elksniņš refrained from predicting how long the new political marriage would last in Daugavpils, but stressed that the real center of power in the coalition is Jānis Lāčplēsis (“Latgale Party”), who was also the initiator of the city council coups. Elksniņš associates his dismissal with the started inspections in municipal companies, mainly in “Daugavpils siltumtīkls”, which have attracted private partners.
“A very profitable business, a very serious political place for Mr. Lāčplēsis, in order to ensure the financing of the” Latgale Party “accordingly,” says Elksniņš.
Elksniņš has also drawn the attention of law enforcement authorities to what is happening in capital companies. The current council term should work for another year.
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