TBILISI, September 26 – Members of Georgia’s main opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), staged a protest Friday outside the seaside residence of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder and honorary chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party. The activists brought along a toy zebra and a toy shark, a symbolic stunt aimed at drawing … Read more
TBILISI, September 25 – Kakha Kaladze, the ruling Georgian Dream party’s candidate for Tbilisi mayor, told voters in Saburtalo that Georgia’s independence was won “with blood and struggle” and must still be defended every day. Speaking under the campaign slogan “Peace for Georgia, more good for Tbilisi,” Kaladze argued that his party has kept the … Read more
TBILISI, September 25 – With Georgia’s hotly contested October 4 local elections just days away, opposition party Lelo is weighing whether to show up at a major street rally in Tbilisi the same evening. The move could put the party on a collision course with other opposition groups that have vowed to boycott the vote. … Read more
TBILISI, September 24 – One of Georgia’s oldest and most trusted legal watchdogs says it won’t monitor this year’s local elections, marking the first time in its 31-year history it has refused to do so. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) announced Wednesday it will not dispatch observers to monitor the October 4 municipal elections, … Read more
Giorgi Antadze, defense and security researcher at the Tbilisi think tank GeoCase, says Georgia’s October 4 local elections cannot be treated as routine. In an interview with Interpressnews, he described the elections as intimately linked to the political upheaval that has gripped the country for two years. “Impossible to call this just another municipal election,” … Read more
TBILISI, September 23 – Georgia has started printing ballots for its upcoming local elections, scheduled for October 4. The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced that a total of 3,897,500 ballots are being printed at four printing houses in Tbilisi. Observers from election monitoring organizations are also present to oversee the printing of voting papers. Inspecting … Read more
TBILISI, September 22 – The opposition Lelo party says it will deploy cameras at every voting precinct in Tbilisi so that no one can vote at a station where they are not registered. The party’s mayoral candidate, Irakli Kupradze, said they expect the October 4 vote will not be fair and vowed to “fight on … Read more
TBILISI, September 22 – Political analyst Irakli Melashvili says Georgia’s political scene has reached a dangerous stalemate, where dialogue between government and opposition is no longer possible. In a wide-ranging interview with Interpressnews, he painted a grim picture of a society radicalized by years of divisive rhetoric. “The main feature of political life in Georgia … Read more
TBILISI, September 22 – Georgia’s opposition are adjusting their language under pressure from the ruling party’s legal threats ahead of a planned October 4 rally previously presented as a ‘peaceful revolution.‘ Paata Burchuladze, founder of the “Rustaveli Avenue” movement, said he was replacing the phrase “peaceful overthrow” with what he jokingly called “affectionate clean-up.” His … Read more
TBILISI, September 18 – As Georgia heads toward local elections, in 25 municipalities across the country, only the ruling Georgian Dream party has put forward mayoral candidates, according to official data released by the Central Election Commission (CEC). The country has 74 election districts outside the capital Tbilisi, meaning one-third of races will be uncontested. … Read more