PM Garibashvili: opposition’s shadow cabinet for Tbilisi ‘another lie’
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has responded to the opposition's idea of a Tbilisi shadow cabinet Photo: government of Georgia press office.
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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.
There is no shadow cabinet, it was a proposal by the UNM team. The UNM will be defeated in all constituencies in the municipal election run-offs and the country will continue its peaceful and stable development,” Garibashvili said earlier today.
He stated that the ‘UNM believes they will be able to cheat the people like when they were in office (between 2003 and 2012).’
Their (UNM’s) perceptions are not real,” Garibashvili asserted.
@NikaMelia5 presents the shadow cabinet for Tbilisi first-ever coalition government, including the leaders of @Girchi_GE, @LeloForGeorgia, @MovementDroa as candidates for vice-Mayors in the lead up to Georgia's municipal election run-off pic.twitter.com/6GHVIKuXaK
— UNM Georgia (ენმ) (@UNMGeorgia) October 20, 2021
He also criticized Khazaradze, one of the founders of Georgia’s TBC Bank, who decided to enter politics only after he was charged with laundering 16.7 million USD in 2019.
Garibashvili said that Khazaradze ‘has always been a loyal servant of Saakashvili,’ and that he and his bank had been used ‘to rob’ businessmen under UNM leadership.
Dozens of businessmen, who are now demanding the restoration of justice, were brought to TBC Bank offices to forcibly give their properties to UNM officials,” Garibashvili said.
He also stated that the arrest of former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi on October 1, a day before Georgian municipal elections, as well as his previous conviction and current charges against him, ‘were done in accordance with the law, and no normal individual in the world would question the arrest.’
“I’m appealing for help, not for myself, but for a Georgian democracy by taking this desperate step of coming and turning myself in. I wanted both, to express solidarity to my suffering nation and awaken the consciousness of the World.” #FreeSaakashvili pic.twitter.com/eNToDIGSVe
— Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) October 21, 2021
The ruling party's mayoral candidate for Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze, has also stated that the nomination of a shadow cabinet by the opposition ‘is funny’ when the ruling party has a majority in Tbilisi City Assembly.
The ruling party received 47% of the vote in the proportional part of the elections, and won 44 of 64 mayoral and majoritarian constituencies in the first round of elections on October 2.
The run-offs will be held only in 20 of 64 mayoral and majoritarian constituencies, in which the ruling party and the UNM candidates will compete for 17 constituencies.
The third president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, who was detained in Tbilisi on October 1, has been officially charged for the illegal crossing of the state border earlier today. Six other criminal charges are filed against Saakashvili who has been convicted to six years of imprisonment in two cases while four other criminal cases are still being heard in Tbilisi City Court.
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.
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).
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.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has criticised MEP Raphael Glucksmann for his statements that the ‘judiciary is biased’ in Georgia, saying that Glucksmann is a ‘close friend of Georgia’s currently detained former president Mikheil Saakashvili.’
The Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia says former president Mikheil Saakashvili has violated the prison regulations by addressing the crowd from a cell earlier today. The penitential service has announced that Saakashvili, who had a bathing day, was isolated in a bathroom when he approached the window of the cell and shouted at the crowd outside the prison.
The opposition United National Movement (UNM) party is holding a rally in the Black Sea town of Batumi. Local leader of the party Mirdat Kamadadze said the ruling Georgian Dream party is in minority in Batumi City Council (Sakrebulo).
The Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) says that 2,088,722 voters have been registered to participate in municipal election run-offs on Saturday, while the number of eligible voters stood at 3,497,345 in the first round of elections on October 2. The total number of voters in Tbilisi, which will also hold run-offs, is 1,002,525.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has urged the public to participate in a large assembly in central Tbilisi on October 27, scheduled by the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party ahead of municipal elections run-offs on Saturday.