Opposition candidate wins mayoral race in Georgian town of Tianeti after court annuls controversial ballots

Mtskheta City Court has annulled Tianeti district election commission’s decision, according to which election votes were recounted in the east-central town of Tianeti and five previously canceled ballots were counted in favour of one of the two mayoral candidates.

According to the court’s verdict, those five ballots are still considered invalid, meaning the mayoral elections in Tianeti were won by opposition candidate Tamaz Mechiauri by one vote.

This makes Tianeti the only municipality across Georgia where the mayoral race was not won by a ruling Georgian Dream candidate.

The case went to court after Mechiauri announced the district election commission ruled in an unfair manner when it made a decision in favour of his opponent, Georgian Dream candidate Lela Kitesashvili.

Following this Saturday’s elections, the preliminary results from the Central Election Commission said that Mechiauri defeated Kitesashvili with a single vote. Later, the votes were recounted based on a decision by the district election commission and was announced that now Kitesashvili was one vote ahead of Mechuarui.

With help from non-governmental organisations, Mechiauri filed an appeal to Mtskheta City Court yesterday and asked for the district election commission’s decision to be annulled.

Kitesashvili said that she is going to appeal the court’s decision. She says that a more fair decision would be to annul the initial vote entirely and hold the election over again.