Oldest Georgian political party denied registration for upcoming elections
The Republican Party failed to present mandatory documentation to the Central Election Commission before the deadline.Photo: reginfo.
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The Republican Party, which is the oldest political party in Georgia founded back in 1978, has been denied registration for the October parliamentary elections by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
The reason for the refusal is late submission of mandatory documentation to the CEC.
The CEC says that non-parliamentary parties must have presented the documentation before July 15, while the party presented them on July 15.
Party member Tamar Kordzaia says that they submitted documentation to the Georgian Post on July 14, while the post brought the documents to the CEC on July 15.
She says as the party gave the documentation to the post office before the deadline, the party should have been registered.
The Republican Party has appealed the decision to the court.
Kordzaia says that if the court leaves the CEC’s decision unchanged, they are likely to partner with other parties in the elections.
The elections in the autumn will be held in a different manner, with 120 MPs elected per the party-list based electoral system and the remaining 30 per the majoritarian electoral model.
The parties which receive at least one per cent of total votes will be able to enter the parliament.
In the previous parliamentary elections in 2016 the Republican party received 1.55 per cent of votes and failed to overcome the mandatory, 3 per cent threshold.
Several key figures, including former Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili, left the party following the elections.
The Republican Party belonged to the Georgian Dream coalition in the 2012 parliamentary elections and entered the legislative body.
However, the party decided to run separately in the 2016 elections.
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 ruling Georgian Dream party has nominated all 30 of its majoritarian candidates for the upcoming October parliamentary elections, both for the eight constituencies of the capital Tbilisi and the regions. The elections in the autumn will be held in a different manner, with 120 MPs elected per the party-list based electoral system and the remaining 30 per the majoritarian electoral model. Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said that the elections will be held ‘in full line with democratic standards and Georgian Dream will celebrate a victory in a fair fight.’
The United National Movement MP Roman Gotsiridze says that the party will have individual candidates in the regions with some exceptions.
Eighteen opposition parties, who participated in the election talks with the ruling Georgian Dream party mediated by the diplomatic corps, continue to demand the ruling party ‘fully abide’ by the March 8 election agreement and release co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua.
Tbilisi City Court has allowed the registration of the oldest political party in Georgia-the Republican Party, for the October parliamentary elections after the Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) denied the registration for late submission of mandatory documentation.
The leader of the European Georgia opposition party Gigi Ugulava has urged opposition parties to nominate joint majoritarian candidates in 22 regional constituencies for the upcoming parliamentary elections in October.
A total of 66 political parties have registered to participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 31. The Central Election Commission also stated that now the registered parties must provide their party lists and majoritarian candidates no later than October 1.