By-elections to be held in September

On 27 July Georgia’s Central Election Commission appointed Parliamentary by-elections in three districts: Chugureti [Tbilisi], Ozurgeti and Gurjaani. These will be held on September 27, 2009.

In accordance with the Election Code of Georgia the Central Election Commission confirmed the holding of the by-elections by decree. “We have decided that by-elections to the Parliament of Georgia will be held on September 27. Every political party registered with the CEC is eligible to take part in these by-elections. The number of registered parties is 23. They must apply to Georgia’s Central Election Commission by August 1,” Chairman of the CEC Levan Tarkhnishvili stated yesterday.

Tarkhnishvili stated that the reason for these by-elections is that the majoritarian seats in these three districts are vacant. In Chugureti the vacancy was created after sitting MP Lasha Zhvania was appointed Economy Minister. the MP for Gurjaani Giorgi Gviniashvili has been appointed as Governor of Kakheti and the former MP for Ozurgeti, Anzor Erkomaishvili, has resigned and returned to his previous post as Director of the Georgian Folk Song Centre. The three MPs had won their seats at the Parliamentary election of 21 May, 2008.

The non-Parliamentary opposition parties do not plan to take part in the by-elections. Manana Nachkebia from the New Rights, has told The Messenger that this party is not going to take part in these elections due to the unhealthy election environment in the country. “As the election code has not been improved, the ruling party still uses Governmental resources for electoral purposes, the Georgian media is not free and repression is taking place, by which I mean the kind of actions being undertaken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I do not think that our party, New Rights, will take part in the by-elections to the Parliament of Georgia,” said Nachkebia.

The Parliamentary opposition groupings the Christian Democratic Movement, Georgian Troupe and We Ourselves plan to participate in the elections however. They have stated they will field candidates in each constituency, but who these candidates will be is not yet known. Another party, the National Democratic Movement, has also expressed its readiness to participate in these elections. This party currently has one MP, Guram Chakhvadze, who was elected in the Didube district of Tbilisi last year.

The CEC outlined the rules, conditions and terms for the by-elections at its session. Rules governing media participation and its use by candidates, the schedule of the election, the number of assistants and technical staff which will be allotted to the District Election Commissions and a financial plan were adopted.