deputy predecessor religion birth_place party office birth_date term_start image article_title name alma_mater
ainārs Šlesers andris ameriks jānis birks eastern orthodoxy riga , latvia harmony mayor of riga 8 june 1976 1 july 2009 nils ušakovs 2012-03-22 . jpg nils ušakovs
 nils ušakovs university of latvia university of southern denmark
nils ušakovs

nils ušakovs -lrb- , `` nil valeryevich ushakov '' -rrb- -lrb- born june 8 , 1976 -rrb- is a latvian politician and former journalist .
since 2014 he is the leader of harmony , which enjoys the support of latvia 's large ethnic russian population .
from november 2005-2014 he was the leader of the left-wing party alliance , harmony centre .
he was elected as a member of the 9th saeima in 2006 .
following the june 2009 local elections in latvia , the majority coalition of harmony centre and lpp/lc factions in the riga city council nominated ušakovs for the position of the chairman of the city council , effectively the mayor of riga .
on july 1 , during the first meeting of the newly formed council , ušakovs was elected its chairman .
he became the first mayor of riga of russian descent since latvia 's restoration of sovereignty in 1991 .
ušakovs ' popularity among rigans had grown steadily , and 73 % of the city 's residents approved of ušakovs ' performance in december 2010 .
