Georgian citizens are heading to the polls on October 2 to self-government bodies and mayors in the 2021 local elections, already shaping up to be hotly contested.
Here are the key past and upcoming deadlines for election procedures, as approved by the Central Election Commission:
August 3 – Electoral campaign period kicks off, with various legal obligations, including restrictions on advertising by government agencies, on implementing new state-funded projects, among others, – to restrict the use of administrative resources;
August 6 – Deadline for parties that had been registered for 2020 parliamentary elections, or already have an elected MP, to apply to CEC for participation in the local polls;
August 8 – The CEC publishes information on the total number of voters and their breakdown by electoral districts; Parties were assigned their ordinal numbers for the election ballot;
August 16 – Initiative groups apply at the relevant election commission to nominate mayoral or Sakrebulo majoritarian candidates;
September 2 – Parties submit their mayoral and majoritarian candidates, and proportional lists to the relevant district election commissions;
September 6 – Deadline for amending the party lists, changing mayoral and majoritarian candidates;
September 7 – The CEC publishes on its website the registered party lists, as well as the information on the majoritarian candidates, which will be included on the ballots;
September 22 – Local observer organizations apply for registration at the relevant election commission, which shall decide within five days after receiving the application;
September 25 – International observer organizations apply for registration at the CEC, which shall decide within three days after receiving the application;
September 27 – Deadline for the CEC to release final/corrected data on the total number of voters and their breakdown by electoral districts; Media representatives apply for accreditation to the relevant election commission;
October 2 – Election Day. Polling stations open at 8:00 and close at 20:00;
October 16 – District Election Commissions summarize the results of Sakrebulo and mayoral polls (except in Tbilisi); CEC summarizes the results of Tbilisi mayoral and City Council (Sakrebulo) votes, draws up a final protocol.
October 30 – Deadline for run-offs for mayoral and majoritarian races, if there are any;
December 15 – The CEC presents a final report to the Parliament of Georgia.
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