DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, DFWatch–Sunday’s election in Georgia marks a significant expansion of local democracy in the country.
Voters are electing twelve new mayors, 59 gamgebelis, or heads of municipalities, and about 2,500 members of 71 local councils.
16,190 registered
TBILISI, DFWatch-Voting went smoothly Sunday in Georgia’s local election. 517,123 people had voted by noon, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC). This is 16 percent of registered voters.
ISFED said 98.7% of precincts were ready to receive voters
TBILISI, DFWatch–There will be 32 international and 59 Georgian organizations observing the local election on Sunday, according to the Central Election Commission (CEC).
The CEC said the number of representatives of Georgian organizations
TBILISI, DFWatch–A candidate for Georgia’s governing coalition in a town south of the capital has announced that he is withdrawing from tomorrow’s local election. The coalition earlier said he would withdraw.
Merab Topchishvili was Georgian Dream’s candidate
TBILISI, DFWatch–A United Nations spokesperson said Friday that 16 Georgians had been captured by Islamist insurgents in Iraq. Georgian authorities would not confirm the report.
It was first reported by Reuters that insurgents in the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
TBILISI, DFWatch–Tbilisi City Court on Friday canceled a decision by the Culture Ministry to remove the protected area status of Sakdrisi, an ancient gold mine which archaeologists say has more than 5,400 years old traces of humans.
The court’s decision means
TBILISI, DFWatch–EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso Thursday arrived in Georgia on the second leg of his visit to countries on Russia’s southwestern perimeter.
Barroso said the Association Agreement Georgia is to sign on June 27 is not ‘exclusive’,
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgian Dream coalition on Thursday withdrew its candidate for gamgebeli in Marneuli in Sunday’s local election, explaining that it was necessary in order to avoid making it into a purely ethnic vote.
The National Movement is running with an
TBILISI, DFWatch–Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s party is under investigation for pretending to be victim of political persecution.
Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani has asked the Prosecutor’s Office to investigate whether the National Movement
TBILISI, DFWatch–Batumi City Court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 12 years in jail, who is suspected of murdering a Russian diplomat and his wife in Abkhazia last year.
Yusuf Lakayev, an ethnic Chechen, was charged with illegally crossing the border, illegally