Ex-pres. Margvelashvili casts ballot, says he voted for candidate ‘from his neighborhood’
Margvelashvili encouraged fellow citizens to go out and vote as ‘the weather is quite nice and warm.’ Photo: ipn.ge
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The former president of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has cast his ballot in today’s run-off municipal elections, saying he voted for ‘oppositional changes’ and a candidate from ‘his neighborhood.'
Margvelashvili also encouraged fellow citizens to go out and vote as ‘the weather is quite nice and warm.’
I voted for the end of corruption, plundering, and seizing of people’s property and dignity in Tbilisi, he told the press.
Margvelashvili was the president of Georgia from 2013 to 2018 under the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party.
After retirement from the presidential office, Margvelashvili announced his return to politics in 2020. However, he has not disclosed his political plans so far.
As of now, Margvelashvili opposes the GD, but has refrained from openly supporting any particular opposition parties.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili, who has cast her ballot in today’s municipal run-offs, said she hopes polarisation will end in Georgia.
The second round of municipal elections will take place in Georgia tomorrow, including in all big cities of the country, amid a polarized political environment and continued rivalry between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the main opposition, the United National Movement. The GD claims they will ‘finally defeat and end the UNM’ in the race, describing it ‘as an evil force’ which has been hampering development for 18 years, while the UNM still hopes the run-offs will lead to snap parliamentary elections ‘and the changing of the GD government.’
The fourth President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili has announced his return to politics via his official Twitter page, stating that the current Georgian Dream ruling party ‘has crossed the red line.’He did not give more details about his political plans.Margvelashvili was elected to the position in 2013. He refused to run again for the presidency in 2018 and stated that he “wanted to set a precedent of the Georgian president ending their term peacefully and democratically.”
United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, who is ‘happy to see voters coming out and casting their votes’ calls for a calm atmosphere on Election Day. Degnan told journalists at the Krtsanisi constituency in Tbilisi that at the places she has visited the environment was calm, while the precincts have been well organised and well administered. However, the embassy has people all over Georgia, who are seeing very different things in some parts of the country.
Former prime minister of and leader of For Georgia political party Giorgi Gakharia has cast his ballot in today’s municipal run-offs, and said he voted ‘for Georgia,’ but not for any candidate. Gakharia explained that by coming to the run-offs, he performed his ‘civilian duty.’
Giorgi Margvelashvili, the former President of Georgia, on Tuesday denied rumours that he was becoming the Chair of the opposition United National Movement party, calling the information a “one hundred percent lie”.
Rustavi 2 channel reported on Tuesday that Margvelashvili, who accompanied UNM members on their recent visit to Ukraine, had been offered the position.
Vladimer Chachibaia, an MP of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday accused the country’s former President Giorgi Margvelashvili of “discrediting” the country’s armed forces with his comments that said the possibility of Georgian troops being sent to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine in the future was “realistic”.