‘Double act for four more years’

Riga Mayor Nils Ušakovs and his deputy Andris Ameriks of the of the Harmony Centre party, won 58.5 per cent of the vote in municipal elections held on June 2. The Unity party of Prime Minister Valdis Dombroviskis obtained only 14.1 per cent of the vote.

The results reflect the hostility of a majority of Latvians to adopting the euro as the country's currency as scheduled on January 1, 2014 – a move which is opposed by Ušakovs's party, says Latvian daily Diena. Nonetheless, the European Commission is expect to announce, on June 5, that Latvia has met the requirements to enter the Eurozone.