Georgian PM meets with observers a day before municipal elections
Tweet 
Share
Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili has hosted representatives of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) monitoring mission at the Government Administration today.
The NDI mission will observe the municipal elections that will take place in Georgia tomorrow, October 21.
The pre-election environment, the level of media freedom in the country and Georgia’s constitutional reforms were the main topics of discussion at today’s meeting.
Kvirikashvili stressed that the pre-election environment has been "unprecedentedly calm” and all electoral subjects have been able to run a peaceful campaign.
He added that, thanks to the democratic reforms undertaken in Georgia, holding free and fair elections has become a standard in the country. He believes that tomorrow’s elections will prove this once again.
The meeting also touched upon the prevention of using administrative resources during campaigning. Kvirikashvili said that the practice of suing administrative resources has been left in the past and if individual cases still happen, they are properly reacted to.
The parties also talked about recent constitutional reforms in Georgia, which, in Kvirikashvili’s words, must strengthen democracy and make sure the next parliament is more pluralistic with a greater number of parties.
NDI mission representatives stressed that the organisation always sends a mission to monitor elections in Georgia, which means that Georgia is considered as one of the important countries NDI is cooperating with.
Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs is investigating an incident during which four people were shot and wounded near the election headquarters of the Georgian Dream political party in the village of Kizilajlo in southern Georgia’s Marneuli district late last night.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili says that this Saturday’s municipal election in Georgia will become yet another proof that, thanks to the democratic reforms undertaken in Georgia, holding a free and fair election has become a standard.
The United States Ambassador to Georgia Ian Kelly says that the pre-election environment in Georgia is positive. Kelly assessed the upcoming municipal election as he spoke to local media today. Georgia will have the elections this Saturday.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission has announced that ballot papers for the October 21 municipal elections are being printed.
Tomorrow is election day in Georgia, when the country will vote for 2,058 members of 64 city councils (sakrebulo) and 64 municipal mayors. Twenty-two political parties, five election blocs and one initiative group have registered their party lists for tomorrow’s elections.
Today is election day in Georgia, when the country will vote for 2,058 members of 64 city councils (sakrebulo) and 64 municipal mayors. The polling stations opened at 8 am this morning for about 3.44 million eligible voters.