Presidential Candidates

23 candidates are running in the October 27 presidential election – the largest number of candidates since Georgia held its first presidential election in 1991; five presidential elections have been held since then and the upcoming vote will mark for the first time when incumbent president will be replaced through elections after serving full term. Many of the candidates are either little-known or complete unknown to the public and some have not been active in politics either recently or ever before. Giorgi Margvelashvili of ruling Georgian Dream coalition is a frontrunner, according to recent polls. Davit Bakradze of the largest opposition party UNM and ex-parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze, who served as interim president twice, are Margvelashvili’s main competitors.