Former MP Tamaz Mechiauri dies of coronavirus
Mechiauri was a member of the ruling majority of the Parliament of Georgia between 2012-2016, before founding the For United Georgia party in 2016. Photo: Tamaz Mechiauri/Facebook.
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Georgian politician and former member of the country’s parliament died of Covid-19 at age 67, with family members announcing the news earlier on Tuesday.
Mechiauri, who served as mayor of Georgia's eastern mountainous Tianeti region for four years since 2017, was undergoing treatment at the First University Clinic of the Tbilisi State Medical University since January 29.
The director of the clinic Lali Turdzeladze said Mechiauri had already been in critical condition when admitted to their hospital, adding “his lungs were in poor condition, he was not vaccinated. We paid a lot of attention, but he still could not defy [the virus]” in comments to the Georgian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili extended his condolences to the family of Mechiauri on Tuesday, with a statement that said “Relatives and colleagues lost a kind-hearted friend, and the country lost a great patriot.”
MPs in the parliament also observed a minute of silence in honour of the memory of Mechiauri in the Tuesday afternoon session.
Mechiauri was a member of the ruling majority of the Parliament of Georgia between 2012-2016, before founding the For United Georgia party in 2016.
A year later he was elected Mayor of Tianeti as an independent candidate. In 2020 he resigned from the post in order to participate in the parliamentary elections.
He also participated in the 2021 local self-government elections but lost the race.
A total of 385 vaccinated people and 10,532 unvaccinated individuals died from Covid-19 in Georgia between March 15-December 31, 2021, the latest report of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reads.
The official results of the Central Election Commission (CEC) for the 2021 municipal election run-offs in Georgia show that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party mayoral candidates have won in 19 municipalities, while the opposition United National Movement (UNM) contender has won in just one. Incumbent Tbilisi mayor and candidate Kakha Kaladze from the GD took 55.6% of the votes over the UNM’s Nika Melia, with 100% of the votes counted.
The second round of municipal elections will take place in Georgia tomorrow, including in all big cities of the country, amid a polarized political environment and continued rivalry between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the main opposition, the United National Movement. The GD claims they will ‘finally defeat and end the UNM’ in the race, describing it ‘as an evil force’ which has been hampering development for 18 years, while the UNM still hopes the run-offs will lead to snap parliamentary elections ‘and the changing of the GD government.’
Mtskheta City Court has annulled Tianeti district election commission’s decision, according to which election votes were recounted in Tianeti and five previously canceled ballots were counted in favour of one of the two mayoral candidates.