More than two million Georgians eligible to vote in municipal election run-offs
Mayoral and majoritarian run-offs will be held in 20 of 62 election constituencies on October 30. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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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.
According to the final results of the first round of the race, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party received 46.74% of the vote, the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party received 30.68%, while former PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party garnered 7.79% of the vote in the proportional part of the elections.
All other parties finished with under 3% of the vote.
Mayoral election runoffs on October 30 will be held in 20 of 64 constituencies, including all five big cities in Georgia - Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Batumi and Poti.
The remaining 15 constituencies where mayoral run-offs will take place are: Telavi, Tianeti, Khashuri, Kareli, Tsageri, Bagdati, Tskaltubo, Ozurgeti, Senaki, Martvili, Khobi, Zugdidi, Tsalenjkha, Chkhorotsku and Khelvachauri.
The runoffs in 17 of 20 constituencies will be held between the candidates of the GD and the UNM, while in three other constituencies, the GD candidates will face the representatives of For Georgia, For United Georgia, and an independent candidate.
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.
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.
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.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party head Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that the GD won the so-called referendum announced by ‘the radical opposition’ with 66 per cent of seats in city councils (Sakrebulo) nationwide. Kobakhidze said that the ruling party counts on increasing the figure to 68 per cent after the runoff.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has announced they will hold an ‘assembly of its supporters’ on central Freedom Square in the capital Tbilisi on October 27, with ‘thousands of participants.’
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.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly C. Degnan says that she is glad a multidisciplinary team is monitoring former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili in prison, noting that the US is also closely observing his condition.
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.