Opposition names 6 of 8 joint candidates for Tbilisi in forthcoming parliamentary elections
The opposition has held consultations regarding the joint candidates for about two months. Photo: RFE/RL.
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Georgian opposition parties have named six of eight joint majoritarian candidates for Tbilisi in the upcoming parliamentary elections in the Autumn.
The candidates are as follows:
- Nika Melia - United National Movement - Gldani.
- Levan Khabeishvili - United National Movement - Samgori.
- Shalva Natelashvili - Labour Party - Nadzaladevi.
- Giorgi Vashadze - New Georgia - Isani.
- Shalva Shavgulidze - Free Democrats - Mtatsminda-Krtsanisi.
- Elene Khoshtaria - European Georgia - Vake.
The opposition has yet to nominate joint candidates for the Didube-Chugureti and Saburtalo constituencies.
There are 22 other constituencies (adding to the eight) where the opposition will have to nominate joint or their own candidates.
Ruling party says all its 92 MPs will vote for the election bill. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
The Georgian parliament has begun discussing a bill earlier today regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The bill, proposed by the ruling Geoorgian Dream party per its agreement with the opposition in March, says that 120 seats in parliament will be distributed based on the votes received in proportional elections, while remaining 30 per the votes received in majoritarian elections.
The amendments are only for the 2020 elections as, according to the Georgian constitution, the country will transfer to a fully proportional election from 2024.
The bill is scheduled to be voted on Sunday with its first reading.
The opposition parties which support the amendments say that they will not vote for the bill as the ruling Georgian Dream party ‘refuses to fully abide by the March 8 election agreement,’ made in the talks mediated by the diplomatic corps.
The opposition says that the last precondition for them to vote for the bill is the release of a co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Giorgi Rurua.
The adoption of the constitutional changes, which is planned for June 29, needs at least 113 votes in the 150-member parliament.
If the opposition refuses to vote for it, the bill may be rejected.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the united opposition have reached an agreement on holding the upcoming parliamentary elections this October with 120 seats in the legislative body to be distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system.
The Georgian parliament will discuss a bill regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections in the autumn on Sunday, June 21, in its first reading.
Former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has called on opposition parties to unite their election lists for the upcoming, October parliamentary polls in Georgia.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili announced today that she is pardoning Georgian opposition politicians Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okruashvili, which she said was ‘a very difficult decision’. Salome Zurabishvili said although she is very well aware of the ‘real actions and crimes’ of the two former officials, Ugulava and Okruashvili, nevertheless, as the president, she is pardoning them for the sake of 'the country’s interests’.
Foreign ambassadors have urged all parties of the March election agreement to ‘fully abide by the terms’ as Georgian parliament will vote on the election bill drafted per the agreement, in its first reading, on Sunday.
With 136 votes in favour and five against, the Georgian parliament has passed an electoral bill establishing a more proportional electoral system in its first hearing today. The bill says that 120 seats in parliament will be distributed based on the votes received in proportional elections, while remaining 30 per the votes received in majoritarian elections.
The United National Movement MP Roman Gotsiridze says that the party will have individual candidates in the regions with some exceptions.
The Georgian Dream ruling party is likely to receive 39 per cent of votes in the upcoming parliamentary elections in October, says the recently published US Edison Research’s polls, commissioned by Georgian channel Formula TV.
The opposition says that the ruling party’s majoritarian candidates, who have been nominated earlier today, have been selected according to their ‘obedience to the founder and the head of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili’ and that ‘they are symbols of a bankrupt political force.’
The European Georgia parliamentary opposition party has nominated 14 of 22 majoritarian candidates for the regions.
The mayor of Dmanisi in eastern Georgia and the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party Dmanisi regional organisation, Giorgi Tatuashvili, has been dismissed from the party for expressing support for the party’s possible opponent in the October parliamentary elections.
About 30 opposition parties in Georgia have adopted a joint declaration on the upcoming October elections at a meeting held in the office of the Labour Party today.
Who has partnered with the United National Movement?
Opposition parties in Georgia have created two electoral blocs today.
Five Georgian opposition parties have signed an agreement on a justice reform earlier today which includes the shutting down of the State Security Service, the Interior Ministry decentralisation and cutting the rights of the Chief Prosecutor’s Office.
A survey carried out by Transparency International Georgia says that almost half of majoritarian candidates presented by parties in the October 31 parliamentary elections are business owners or are connected with business activities.
The Election Administration of Georgia has adopted a resolution laying out the sanitary guidelines to be observed when the country will go to the polls in parliamentary elections on October 31. People entering the election centre must first sanitise their hands, and will be obliged to wear face masks. Members of the election commission and observers must undergo thermal screening. However, this rule will not apply to voters.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), an independent not-for-profit NGO, has published its second interim report on social media pre-election monitoring, which identified 66 unofficial, anonymous and false media Facebook pages which have been working during the campaign period to discredit political parties in an organised fashion.