The News in Brief
Tuesday, September 4
NATO Secretary General to Visit Tbilisi on 6 September
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Tbilisi on September 6, Georgian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nino Kalandadze said. Acording to Kalandadze, the NATO Secretary General will visit Georgia for one day. This will be his third visit, which means that the dynamic of NATO-Georgian relations is deepening. Rasmussen will meet with representatives of the diplomatic mission of Georgia in the framework of the ambassadorial taking place in Tbilisi and will address the diplomats. Rasmussen will meet with the Georgian battalion, who will soon depart for Afghanistan.
(IPN)
CEC Members Violated Political Neutrality Principle
The International society for Fair Elections and Democracy believes that the refusal to provide election Number 7 to Kartuli Otsneba (Georgian Dream) was a politically motivated decision. This is according to the report on pre-election climate monitoring, published by Fair Elections Today. Fair Elections believes that CEC members violated the political neutrality principle.
The CEC gave election Number 41 to Bidzina Ivanishvili's Kartuli Otsneba via polling on August 20. According to the report on the same day, the election bloc representatives released a statement saying that the CEC violated the rule of giving them the number. The bloc planned to take part in the elections using number 7, the number of the Conservative Party. Campaign materials and other items were even prepared with this number.
"Unlike the 2008 parliamentary and 2010 local self-government elections, the CEC provided different interpretations to the 4th item of the 119th Article of the election code by declaring that “if the election bloc was created for the elections by the political parties taking part in the previous parliamentary elections, they have to indicate in the bloc regulation which number they’ll use in the elections. It’s noteworthy to add that during 2008 and 2010 elections, the CEC gave the election blocs the right to use the number of the political entity of the bloc even if they didn’t take part in the previous elections,” the report reads.
(IPN)
Health Minister inspects work of insurance program
Minister of Health, Labour and Social Care visited various hospitals and medical institutions to inspect how the new state-funded insurance program works. The insurance program was enforced from September 1, 2012.
Minister said the number of the patients, who visited clinics with insurance policies during the past two days, has exceeded six thousands. Ministry authorities expect growth of this number eventually.
Over four hundred monitors work in various hospitals of Georgia to provide unobstructed implementation of the insurance program.
Minister has reminded the insured citizens of Georgia that the ministry hotline works non-stop and they will get answers on any questions they have.
(Rustavi 2)
Teacher Certification Tests Completed
According to Minister Khatia Dekanoidze, about eight-thousand teachers will be given their qualification certificates. Teacher certification tests are complete and those who passed the tests will be able to learn their results on the official websites of the Education Ministry or at the examination center (www.naec.ge;www.tpdc.ge.) In comparison with the results of the last year, the number of the teachers who passed the tests successfully and received certificates has increased two-fold. The next certification examinations will be held in 2013.
Yesterday, the ministry staff also awarded about 100 successful students with gold and silver medals.
(Rustavi 2)
Central Election Commission responds to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s statement
"The Central Election Commission cannot leave without [providing a] reaction to the statement made by Bidzina Ivanishvili on the 9th Channel on August 31," a statement from the Central Election Commission says. According to the statement, the irresponsible attitudes of political leaders lead to mistrust towards the election process and deteriorates the election environment.
"The statement makes us think that they are just not aware of the activities of the election administration. To avoid a similar misunderstanding in the future, we are offering Bidzina Ivanishvili the chance to come to the Central Election Commission on September 3 and we will show how we work," the statement says. Bidzina Ivanishvili said on the 9th Channel that the Central Election Commission would be closed for 1 or 2 hours and the protocols would be re-written like it was earlier.
(IPN)
New Rights representatives Meet OSCE Observation Mission Representatives
New Rights members met with the OSCE observation mission representatives.
Chairperson of the New Rights Party Davit Gamkrelidze, Executive Secretary of the party Revaz Sokhadze and International Secretary Irina Pruidze, met with the head of the ODIHR’s mission Nikolai Vulchanov and Chief Political analyst Ingrid Gossinger. The New Rights representatives spoke about the pre-election climate before the 2012 October elections.
“The mission's function is to find out whether the pre-election climate and the election itself are in compliance with the law and Georgia’s international commitments, so we have tried to provide information that will enable them to make such assessments,” Davit Gamkrelidze said.
(IPN)
Batumi to have a new stadium in 18 months
Batumi will have a new stadium in 18 months. The construction of the stadium began in Batumi's new boulevard Saturday. President Saakashvili attended the ceremony.
The stadium will be built to accommodate 35, 000 spectators; it will meet international standards and will be authorized to host all kinds of international tournaments.
The stadium project was created by a Georgian architect, Davit Gogichaishvili. He is also the architect of the Batumi Technical University building, which is also under construction.
(Rustavi 2)
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Tbilisi on September 6, Georgian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nino Kalandadze said. Acording to Kalandadze, the NATO Secretary General will visit Georgia for one day. This will be his third visit, which means that the dynamic of NATO-Georgian relations is deepening. Rasmussen will meet with representatives of the diplomatic mission of Georgia in the framework of the ambassadorial taking place in Tbilisi and will address the diplomats. Rasmussen will meet with the Georgian battalion, who will soon depart for Afghanistan.
(IPN)
CEC Members Violated Political Neutrality Principle
The International society for Fair Elections and Democracy believes that the refusal to provide election Number 7 to Kartuli Otsneba (Georgian Dream) was a politically motivated decision. This is according to the report on pre-election climate monitoring, published by Fair Elections Today. Fair Elections believes that CEC members violated the political neutrality principle.
The CEC gave election Number 41 to Bidzina Ivanishvili's Kartuli Otsneba via polling on August 20. According to the report on the same day, the election bloc representatives released a statement saying that the CEC violated the rule of giving them the number. The bloc planned to take part in the elections using number 7, the number of the Conservative Party. Campaign materials and other items were even prepared with this number.
"Unlike the 2008 parliamentary and 2010 local self-government elections, the CEC provided different interpretations to the 4th item of the 119th Article of the election code by declaring that “if the election bloc was created for the elections by the political parties taking part in the previous parliamentary elections, they have to indicate in the bloc regulation which number they’ll use in the elections. It’s noteworthy to add that during 2008 and 2010 elections, the CEC gave the election blocs the right to use the number of the political entity of the bloc even if they didn’t take part in the previous elections,” the report reads.
(IPN)
Health Minister inspects work of insurance program
Minister of Health, Labour and Social Care visited various hospitals and medical institutions to inspect how the new state-funded insurance program works. The insurance program was enforced from September 1, 2012.
Minister said the number of the patients, who visited clinics with insurance policies during the past two days, has exceeded six thousands. Ministry authorities expect growth of this number eventually.
Over four hundred monitors work in various hospitals of Georgia to provide unobstructed implementation of the insurance program.
Minister has reminded the insured citizens of Georgia that the ministry hotline works non-stop and they will get answers on any questions they have.
(Rustavi 2)
Teacher Certification Tests Completed
According to Minister Khatia Dekanoidze, about eight-thousand teachers will be given their qualification certificates. Teacher certification tests are complete and those who passed the tests will be able to learn their results on the official websites of the Education Ministry or at the examination center (www.naec.ge;www.tpdc.ge.) In comparison with the results of the last year, the number of the teachers who passed the tests successfully and received certificates has increased two-fold. The next certification examinations will be held in 2013.
Yesterday, the ministry staff also awarded about 100 successful students with gold and silver medals.
(Rustavi 2)
Central Election Commission responds to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s statement
"The Central Election Commission cannot leave without [providing a] reaction to the statement made by Bidzina Ivanishvili on the 9th Channel on August 31," a statement from the Central Election Commission says. According to the statement, the irresponsible attitudes of political leaders lead to mistrust towards the election process and deteriorates the election environment.
"The statement makes us think that they are just not aware of the activities of the election administration. To avoid a similar misunderstanding in the future, we are offering Bidzina Ivanishvili the chance to come to the Central Election Commission on September 3 and we will show how we work," the statement says. Bidzina Ivanishvili said on the 9th Channel that the Central Election Commission would be closed for 1 or 2 hours and the protocols would be re-written like it was earlier.
(IPN)
New Rights representatives Meet OSCE Observation Mission Representatives
New Rights members met with the OSCE observation mission representatives.
Chairperson of the New Rights Party Davit Gamkrelidze, Executive Secretary of the party Revaz Sokhadze and International Secretary Irina Pruidze, met with the head of the ODIHR’s mission Nikolai Vulchanov and Chief Political analyst Ingrid Gossinger. The New Rights representatives spoke about the pre-election climate before the 2012 October elections.
“The mission's function is to find out whether the pre-election climate and the election itself are in compliance with the law and Georgia’s international commitments, so we have tried to provide information that will enable them to make such assessments,” Davit Gamkrelidze said.
(IPN)
Batumi to have a new stadium in 18 months
Batumi will have a new stadium in 18 months. The construction of the stadium began in Batumi's new boulevard Saturday. President Saakashvili attended the ceremony.
The stadium will be built to accommodate 35, 000 spectators; it will meet international standards and will be authorized to host all kinds of international tournaments.
The stadium project was created by a Georgian architect, Davit Gogichaishvili. He is also the architect of the Batumi Technical University building, which is also under construction.
(Rustavi 2)