RIGA, Dec 18 (LETA) - Opposition councilors in Ogre municipality on Thursday failed to depose Egils Helmanis (National Alliance) as the municipality's mayor.

Nine members of the Ogre municipal council voted for Helmanis' removal from the mayoral office, while 11 councilors voted against.

The Ogre municipal council held the vote in Helmanis absence after three hours of debate.

As reported, nine opposition councilors of Ogre municipality had submitted a draft decision on the dismissal of Mayor Egils Helmanis (National Alliance), the politicians informed LETA.

The mayor's dismissal was demanded by nine councilors - Dace Klavina, Janis Silins, members of the New Unity party, and members of the joint list of For and the New Conservative Party - Santa Locmele, Uldis Skudra, Karlis Avotins, as well as the councilors of the Latvian Association of Regions - Rudolfs Kudla, Matiss Mezaks, Karlis Ansons and Mariss Martinsons.

The opposition councilors pointed out that Helmanis has actually worked for less than a month since his election as chairman of the municipal council. He has been absent from work since July 18 this year, first on compensatory leave following a business trip, then on vacation and, since August 25, on sick leave.

At the same time, the councilors claim that Helmanis has been paid more than EUR 4,000 in salary for November and do not understand why this bonus has been paid if the mayor was not actually performing his duties.

"For five months, the council has been operating without a fully-fledged chairperson. During this period, the municipality of Ogre has been headed by only one deputy chairman, who has no substitute," said councilor Klavina, adding that the law provides for mechanisms to ensure the continuity of the work of the council and its management, even in cases where officials are unable to fulfil their duties for a long period.

Councilor Locmele also added that the municipality is working slowly on the next year's budget, and related issues have not yet been discussed in the municipal council committees. "The lack of involvement and openness of the council chairman raises concerns that the budget process is not being conducted in an open and transparent way," said Locmele.

Councilor Kudla reminded that Helmanis had not applied for the security clearance to work with state secrets within the set deadline. "This raises serious concerns that the senior political leadership of the largest municipality in Latvia in terms of population does not in fact have the full capacity to work with restricted information. Such irresponsibility jeopardizes the possibility to act in a timely manner and to protect the interests and security of the citizens of the Ogre municipality, especially in crisis situations," the lawmaker believes.

LETA previously reported that Helmanis had failed to fill in the questionnaire required to obtain a state secrets clearance within the deadline, and had been informed of this by both the Ministry and the State Security Service. Helmanis had promised on Facebook in late August to fill in the form as soon as he recovered from an injury sustained during a trip to Ukraine. At the same time, he expressed the opinion that those in power were using the state secrets clearance "to achieve their political goals and to fight their competitors".