Dozens of political parties register to compete in elections

More than two dozen political groups have successfully registered with the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) to take part in the June 15 municipal elections.

Thirty four political parties addressed the CEC for registration, out of which 26 were successfully registered and six were rejected.

The news was announced on the CEC website yesterday.

Registered political parties were eligible to submit applications requesting to create election blocs until May 3, 2014.

The CEC said "Georgian Dream” and "Non-parliamentary Opposition” were already registered as blocs.

The Georgian Dream coalition consisted of six parties: Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia, Georgian Conservative Party, Industry Saves Georgia, Georgian Republic Party, Free Democrats and National Forum. The Non-Parliamentary Opposition consisted of two parties: New Rights and Free Georgia.

Meanwhile two other political blocs are waiting for CEC approval. These are "United National Movement” and "Self-Government to People”.

Both coalitions are two-party blocs, with the "United National Movement” consisting of UNM Party and Georgian Christian-Conservative Party and "Self-Government to People” consisting of For Fair Georgia and European Democrats.

Registration procedures of the foregoing blocs will be completed by May 9.

The municipal elections will be held in Georgia on June 15, 2014.

Seventy one local self-government bodies - Sakrebulos and 2,088 members of Sakrebulo, 12 city Mayors and 59 heads of the local municipality - Gamgebelis will be elected in the local self-government elections.

Changes to the Election Code mean this is the first time all Mayors and Gamgebelis will be directly elected. Previously only the Mayor of Tbilisi was chosen this way.

Important dates for the elections:

May 16: Deadline for parties and election blocs to submit their party lists, as well as names of the candidates for Mayors and Gamgebelis.

May 22: Deadline for the CEC to register Mayor and Gamgebeli candidates.

May 23: Deadline for the CEC to register candidates for membership of Sakrebulos.

June 5: Deadline for the Mayoral and Gamgebeli candidates to withdraw from the race, otherwise their name will still appear on the election ballot. In addition, it is a deadline for Georigan organizations to apply for monitoring the elections.

June 8: Deadline for international organizations to apply for monitoring the elections.

June 13: From 8am until the polling stations are closed on June 15, publishing of survey results and ratings is prohibited.

June 15: Election day. Polling stations open at 8am and close at 8pm.

June 26: Deadline for local election commissions to summarize voting outcomes and hand the results to the CEC.

July 9: Deadline for the CEC to summarize voting outcomes of the elections.