Adjara Elects Parliament
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| Opponents say elections are illegal due to legal gap. |
9 political parties and one election bloc will contest for 30 seats in the Adjara Autonomous Republic’s Supreme Council in which 12 seats will be allocated through the single-mandate constituencies and 18 – through the proportional party list system.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters party Saakashvili-Victorious Adjara is a favorite party most likely to win the majority of seats in the Adjarian parliament; however as political analysts say the Republican Party has a good chance to clear 7% threshold and gain seats in the legislative body.
The Republicans are the political partners to the ruling National Movement-Democrats party in the Georgian Parliament, however in Adjara the party act as a major opposition to the local Adjarian interim government. The party has already accused the authorities of intimidation its representatives in the local election commissions.
Other parties running for the Adjarian parliament are: the Labor Party, the Industry Will Save Georgia, the New Communist Party, the Green’s Party, the United Communist Party, the Merab Kostava Society, the Party for Democratic Truth and the election bloc of the National-Democratic Party and the Christian-Democratic Party.
The New Rights party, which is the only opposition group together with the Industry Will Save Georgia having a faction in the Georgian Parliament, boycotted elections.
MP Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights, explains that the absence of the law over the constitutional powers of the Autonomous Republic, which should define the rights and legal base of the elected Adjarian parliament, is the reason of his party’s refusal to run for the local elections in Adjara.
However, the constitutional draft law of Georgia on the status of the Adjara Autonomous Republic, which along with distribution of powers between Tbilisi and Batumi defines the structure of the legislative and executive authorities of the Autonomy has not been adopted so far, that creates a particular legal vacuum.
“No one knows what type of a legislative body will be elected, since along with other issues the Georgian Parliament has not defined yet whether one-chamber or two-chamber Supreme Council should be elected,” MP Davit Gamkrelidze said at the parliamentary session on June 18.
A month ago, on May 18, the Parliament of Georgia called for public discussion of the draft law over distribution of powers between Georgia’s central government and Adjara Autonomous Republic.
According to the law the constitutional draft law should be put for a public discussion a month before the document is discussed by the Parliament.
According to the submitted draft law Adjara’s Autonomous Republic will be run by the Supreme Council – the local legislative body and the Executive Council – the executive government. The President of Georgia will nominate of Chairmen of the Supreme and Executive Councils for approval.
The President of Georgia also has the right to disband these bodies, in case their activity “would threaten country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Voter registration process was held in Adjara to make up a computerized voter list. According to the Supreme Election Commission of Adjara roughly 108,000 voters under went registration. The registration process will be held on elections day as well.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) has already delivered around 250,000 ballot papers to Adjara Autonomous Republic on June 18, which is twice more than number of registered voters in Adjara.
Around 110 international, including from OSCE and Council of Europe and 300 local observers will monitor the elections.