Four Opposition Parties Name Joint Tbilisi Majoritarian Candidates

Four opposition parties named on August 17 joint majoritarian candidates in ten Tbilisi districts to run for seats in Sakrebulo, the local representative body, in the self-government elections set to take place on October 2.

The four parties include United National Movement (UNM), European Georgia, Girchi – More Freedom, and Droa. Candidates from Girchi – More Freedom are set to run in four out of ten single-mandate constituencies in Tbilisi, while both European Georgia and Droa presented 3 candidates each to run in the remaining districts.

No UNM candidates will be contending for the Sakrebulo seats, with the party backing the candidacies of the other three parties. Earlier, however, UNM Chair Nika Melia had been endorsed by all four parties as a joint mayoral candidate for the capital city. The same parties are backing Droa founder Elene Khoshtaria as Sakrebulo Chair and Tsotne Koberidze from Girchi – More Freedom as Vice-Mayor.

Only one out of the ten candidates presented today is a woman.

Tbilisi majoritarian candidates named today by four parties are as follows:

Girchi – More Freedom candidates

  • Mtatsminda district – Tengo Kirtadze
  • Saburtalo district – Boris Kurua
  • Didube district – Nika Mosiashvili
  • Nadzaladevi district – Badri Grigalashvili

European Georgia candidates

  • Chugureti district – Giorgi Noniashvili
  • Isani district – Beso Donadze
  • Samgori district – Dato Jgenti

Droa candidates

  • Vake district – Batu Kutelia
  • Krtsanisi district – Tamaz Akhobadze
  • Gldani district – Elene Khoshtaria

The opposition parties are also agreeing on joint mayoral candidates to run in some of the municipalities outside Tbilisi as consultations continue.

Calling on the party supporters to vote for the joint candidates, UNM Chair Melia said it was time to unite for a common “decisive fight.”

Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria welcomed the decision of the UNM “to show today the example that ‘I do not want to take it all’,” noting that the parties are offering a coalition government as a “historic decision.”

„October 2 will be a legitimacy test for this government,” said Girchi – For Freedom leader Zura Japaridze, adding that if the ruling Georgian Dream party loses “this country will go to early elections and have the chance for something to change.”

European Georgia’s Giga Bokeria said the upcoming elections are a chance “to return the possibility to be a normal, free country and not to allow that [GD founder] Bidzina Ivanishvili sacrifices the future of our country and our citizens to his wealth.”

The October 2 local elections were expected to decide the fate of early parliamentary elections in 2022, which would take place should the ruling party score under 43% in October as per commitments taken under the EU-brokered deal. The Georgian Dream party later quit the agreement, taking back the referendum promise.

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