Former Jelgava district mayor Lasmanis to lead Ogre strategic planning department

Madars Lasmanis (LA), the former chairman of Jelgava District Council, will now lead the Strategic Planning Department of Ogre, according to publicly available information. Lasmanis takes over from Jānis Eglītis (NA), who had headed the department since early 2024 and now holds the position of strategic planning specialist. The department was established over two years ago. Lasmanis has not commented on his appointment.

Lasmanis resigned as chairman of Jelgava District Council on April 3, 2024, just hours before a council session that was scheduled to consider a request from seven deputies to remove him. The deputies had called for an evaluation of Lasmanis's conduct during a budget committee meeting, where he was seen focusing on a woman's legs. A video from that meeting surfaced publicly, showing Lasmanis sitting in a car, touching and attending to a woman's leg covered in tights, who was seated in the back seat.

The request was signed by seven deputies: four from the Latvian Farmers' Union (Ilze Vītola, Lolita Duge, Juris Lavenieks, and Juris Razživins) and three from the Latvian Regions Association (Dainis Liepiņš, Vidmants Rinkuns, and Dina Tauriņa). The then-executive director Līga Lonerte urged the council to assess Lasmanis's ethical breach. In his statement, Lasmanis apologized to his colleagues, party members, district residents, and the public, stating that he resigned to facilitate the election of a new leader. He pledged to work to restore his reputation.