Parliament adopts local Self-Government Bill
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A Bill on Local Self-Government has passed in Parliament.
The Bill passed on its third and final hearing with a 77-7 vote on January 5, 2014.
The Bill, which had been revised several times, outlined direct elections of Mayors in towns starting from this year’s local elections planned to take place this spring.
The Bill stated:
- The direct election of Mayors in 12 towns. Only in Tbilisi the Mayor will be elected directly by voters.The direct election of 60 heads of the municipalities (Gamgebeli).
- Lowering the threshold from 5% to 4% for the party-list. A party gaining at least 4% in elections will be able to endorse its members in respective municipality’s Sakrebulo.
- A minimal threshold of 40% for electing Mayors of Self-Governed cities in the first round of voting.
- A minimal threshold of 33% for elected heads of municipalities.
- Voters’ lists will become biometric and photos of voters will be added.
- Political parties have to spend 15% of the fund received from the state budget
- Access to polling stations will be accessible to people with disabilities.
- The initiative group will not be allowed to register as mayor or heads of the municipalities.
Changes to the electoral system has become the main topic discussed among the Government and opposition parties.
Government officials believe this initiative will ensure a higher level of legitimacy within elections.
However, the opposition has called for a 50% threshold for electing Mayors. This means a candidate will require garnering half of the votes plus one in order to be declared an outright winner of the race without needing a runoff.
MPs from the ruling party want to raise the 30 percent threshold for upcoming Local Government Elections.
A meeting between Parliamentary Speaker David Usupashvili and Opposition parties to discuss amendments to the Elections Code ended without any major result today. Although about ten non-parliamentary opposition parties' representatives assessed the meeting as mainly positive.
The upcoming self-government elections were discussed at a late night gathering of Georgian Dream coalition political council members last night.
Former Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava has announced his intentions to participate in the upcoming self-government elections.
One of the founders and a leader of Georgian opposition Christian-Democratic Movement Giorgi Targamadze has announced he will resign from his post.
Georgian non-parliament opposition Christian-Democratic Movement party are joining the Democratic Movement – United Georgia party, led by the country’s ex- Parliament speaker and Presidential candidate Nino Burjanadze.
Today is the day Georgian voters will return to polling stations to elect the Mayors of eight self-governing cities, as well as Governors (Gamgebelis) of 13 municipalities.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said one of the priorities of the government is to ensure balance among the different regions of Georgia. Introducing the regional decentralization strategy today, PM Kvirikashvili said local governments should have both the decision-making authority and the resources for their fulfilment.