RIGA, May 17 (LETA) - Decisions of separate municipalities to ban gambling in the municipal territory is a cheap pre-election populism because decisions contradict the law, said Environment Protection and Regional Development Minister Arturs Toms Pless (For Development/For) in an interview with the Latvian public television today.

In his words, the task of the Environment Protection and Regional Development Ministry is to ensure supervision of local governments.

"These decision can be described as cheap pre-election populism because we see that a number of municipalities - Adazi, Limbazi and Cesis - have made decisions that contradict the law," the politician said.

He underscored that it is not possible to ban a certain type of entrepreneurship in the whole municipal territory. "In the same way, municipalities might ban sale of alcohol, for example, in their territory," said Pless.

He praised the decision of Salaspils municipality which without any loud statements adopted a bill on regulating gambling in its territory.