Vilnis Ķirsis

Vilnis Ķirsis (born 20 August 1980), is a Latvian politician, economist, and businessman, currently the Mayor of Riga since 17 August 2023.

He had been a member of the Riga City Council, and was also a member of the Saeima in two convocations. He represents the "Unity" party, and was previously a member of the Reform Party.

After the resignation of the chairman of the Riga City Council, Mārtiņš Staķis, as one of the vice-chairmen, he was approved as acting chairman of the Riga City Council.

Biography
Vilnis Ķirsis was born in Riga on 20 August 1980.

He was educated at Riga Hanza Secondary School, as well as at the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Latvia, where he obtained a master's degree in economics in 2004. He is a member of the Latvian student corporation Beveronija.

He was the chairman of the board of the company Fors Fortis, as well as a member of the board of the company Cannmeat.

He was a candidate from Zatler's Reform Party in the 2011 Saeima emergency elections, was not elected to the parliament, but became the parliamentary secretary of the Ministry of Economy.

In 2013, he ran in the Riga City Council elections with the second number on the list of the Reform Party, but the list did not get enough voter support.

On 6 June 2013, Ķirsis received the mandate of the 11th Saeima deputy for the period while party member Vyacheslavs Dombrovskis was serving as a minister.

In May 2014, Ķirsis left the Reform Party and switched to the "Unity" party. From that list, with the help of a strong individual campaign, he was elected to the 12th Saeima in Vidzeme constituency.

In the 2017 Riga City Council elections, he ran as the leader of the "Vienotības" list and was elected to the municipality, where the "Vienotības" faction operates in opposition. In 2019, he became an adviser to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgars Rinkēvičs, on economic and energy policy issues. In the 2020 extraordinary Riga City Council elections, Ķirsis ran as the leader of the list of the association "Jaunā Vienotība" and was re-elected to the municipality, elected as one of the three deputies of the Chairman of the Riga City Council, Mārtiņš Staķis.

On 2 October 2020, he was sworn in as deputy mayor for urban development, planning and transport.

In the summer of 2023, the leading coalition of the Riga City Council collapsed, one of the reasons was possible illegality in the construction projects of the traffic area, for which the responsibility of the deputy chairman of the city council, Ķirsis, was in the municipality. After the resignation of the chairman of the Riga City Council, Staķas, Ķirsis, as one of the vice-chairmen, was confirmed as acting chairman of the Riga City Council.

Family
He married doctor Elīna Zvaigzne-Ķirse during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They have a son together.

His father was a councilor of Riga, and his mother was also active in a political party. His brother is the co-founder of the "Valmiermuižas alus" brewery.