UNM names Lelo leader Khazaradze as deputy mayoral candidate
Nika Melia said Mamuka Khazaradze would be the best candidate for deputy mayor's position.
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Opposition United National Movement chair Nika Melia, who is also a mayoral candidate in Tbilisi, has named Lelo for Georgia party leader Mamuka Khazaradze as a candidate for deputy mayor’s position.
Melia, who introduced the program of the opposition coalition, said Khazaradze is the person whose support strengthens him.
[He] will fight for the welfare of our children and the elder people”, Melia referred to Khazaradze.
Encouraging diversity, Melia claims Tbilisi will have the first ever coalition government in history if he wins the October 30 municipal run-offs.
His other deputies will also include GIrchi-More Freedom party leader Zurab Japaridze, Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria and European Georgia member Irakli Abesadze.
Melia also claims that in case of victory, he will quit the UNM chair’s post and remain its ordinary member.
I don’t think it is right to be the mayor of the city with 1.5 million people and be holding [local] government sessions in Tbilisi City Hall and at the same time attending consultations at the party”, Melia said.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili is meanwhile confident that Melia will lose the municipal run-offs. Calling UNM ‘dictatorship' he said ‘it is shameful that criminals like him’ still remain in today’s politics.
Municipal elections were held in Georgia on October 2. However, a second round of municipal elections have been scheduled on October 30 as some candidates did not receive enough votes to overcome the mandatory threshold, including in Tbilisi.
Ruling party mayoral candidate and incumbent mayor Kakha Kaladze has called on all Georgian citizens to participate in the municipal election run-offs on October 30 and ‘to put an end’ to the opposition party United National Movement (UNM).
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has called on the public to participate in the municipal election run-offs which will be held in Georgia on October 30. The CEC announced earlier today that the run-off will be held in 5 self-governing cities, 15 municipalities and 24 election districts.
According to the final results of the first round in the race, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party received 46.74 per cent of the vote, the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party received 30.68 per cent of the vote while ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party garnered 7.79 per cent of the vote.
A second round of municipal elections in Georgia will be held on October 30 as some candidates did not receive enough votes to overcome the mandatory threshold, including in Tbilisi, based on the preliminary results of the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili says that the nomination of a shadow cabinet for Tbilisi by United National Movement (UNM) opposition party head and the party’s Tbilisi mayoral candidate, Nika Melia, ‘is another lie and an attempt to mislead the public.’ Melia stated yesterday that after he wins the mayoral run-off on October 30, his deputies will be Lelo opposition party founder Mamuka Khazaradze, Girchi-More Freedom party head Zurab Japaridze, Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria, and opposition member Irakli Abesadze.
Election polls commissioned by the opposition-oriented TV channel Mtavari Arkhi says that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) mayoral candidate and incumbent Kakha Kaladze will receive 51.6%, while Nika Melia from the United National Movement (UNM) will get 48.4% in municipal election run-offs in Tbilisi on October 30.