The ruling Georgian Dream party has named all of the 63 (three female and 60 male) candidates in all of the municipalities for the upcoming October 2 local elections.
Local self-government is one of the most important public institutions in Georgia… it is important for us to further develop this institution by supporting the development of all of the 63 municipalities”, the ruling party chair Irakli Kobakhidze said at a news briefing earlier today.
Kobakhidze also noted that he will be head of his election headquarters, while mayoral candidate Kakha Kaladze will be the campaign manager in Tbilisi and Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili will be campaign manager countrywide.
The Georgian Dream, which has recently withdrawn from the EU-mediated agreement, says the announcement of early parliamentary elections will not in a any form depend on the results of the upcoming municipal elections.
The EU-mediated agreement aimed to end the six-month political deadlock in Georgia in mid-April, reads that ‘early parliamentary elections shall be called in 2022 if the Georgian Dream party receives less than 43% of valid proportional votes in the October 2021 local self-government elections’.
Either if we receive three percent of votes like the Lelo for Georgia party did or 93 percent, no early elections will be announced”, Kobakhidze told journalists today.
He also added that if the situation ‘becomes ripe, a healthy coalition government will be formed’ in Georgia.
In this case, we will make that decision independently, on our own, but this cannot be connected with the results of the local self-government elections”, Kobakhidze stated.
Earlier this month the Georgian Dream officially named Kakha Kaladze, acting Mayor of Tbilisi, as its candidate for a second term in the position.
Meanwhile, a number of opposition parties have put forward the United National Movement chair Nika Melia for the post of Tbilisi mayor.