The News in Brief
Wednesday, June 15
Giorgi Kvirikashvili not to stay in Parliament after elections
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is not going to remain in Parliament after the elections.
As Giorgi Kvirikashvili told journalists in response to reported information that he may be chosen as Chairman of Parliament after the elections, he will remain in his current post.
"Yesterday I heard a story about this issue. I'm not going to stay in Parliament. This is ruled out. I'm going to be in the position where I am today, because I have a lot of important work to do,” said Kvirikashvili.
The Prime Minister also made comments on the appointment of Dimitri Kumsishvili as the first Vice Prime Minister.
"This is due to the fact that I and Kakha Kaladze will be very actively involved in the elections, while the economic team needs a good coordination. Therefore, all kinds of rumors and speculation about this matter is inappropriate," he said. (IPN)
CEC: Number of Voters 3.47 Million
The number of Georgia’s eligible voters stands at 3,473,316 according to figures released by the Central Election Commission on June 13.
The CEC is responsible for compiling voter lists based on data provided on quarterly basis by the relevant authorities, primarily the Justice Ministry’s Public Service Development Agency.
The election commission will have to release updated figures on number of voters no later than October 3, five days before the parliamentary elections.
Data released by the CEC also includes the number of voters in each of the 73 election districts.
Georgia’s election districts have been redrawn to narrow the huge discrepancy in the size of single-mandate constituencies by merging some small districts and dividing larger ones.
As a result boundaries of single-mandate constituencies no longer coincide with those of administrative borders of municipalities.
The number of voters in each election district varies from 41,598 in the smallest one (Tbilisi’s single-mandate constituency covering mostly the capital city’s Vake district) to 54,168 in the largest one (Rustavi is one of the two single-mandate constituencies).
Before the redistricting, the number of voters was ranging from over 150,000 in the largest one to less than 6,000 in the smallest one.
Lawmakers from the opposition UNM party have challenged the electoral redistricting in the Constitutional Court, claiming that the boundaries were redrawn to the detriment of opposition parties.
The Constitutional Court found the appeal admissible and it is now being considered. As an interim measure pending the verdict, applicants also wanted to suspend application of the disputed clauses of the election code, but the request was declined by the Constitutional Court. (Civil.ge)
Angela Merkel to visit Georgia ‘in the near future’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel might visit Georgia this summer, Interpressnews reports.
The news agency is quoting Reiner Haseloff, the minister president of the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, who added: “In the near future, chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to visit your country. I wish I could be a member of that delegation, because I want to learn more about your country from different sides. It is good that our partnership is becoming more intense and tight. This is a great achievement for both countries.”
Haseloff said Georgia and Germany will be cooperating more closely in the field of education and science and announced that a memorandum of understanding will be signed on expanding exchange programs.
Former Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili invited Merkel in June 2014. She accepted the invitation, and the government began preparing for her visit, which was confirmed by Garibashvili and Foreign Minister of Germany Walter Steinmeir in December.
But in February, 2015, Georgia’s ambassador to Germany Lado Chanturia said Merkel’s visit was postponed and would not take place that spring because Germany was hosting the G7 meeting. (DF watch)
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is not going to remain in Parliament after the elections.
As Giorgi Kvirikashvili told journalists in response to reported information that he may be chosen as Chairman of Parliament after the elections, he will remain in his current post.
"Yesterday I heard a story about this issue. I'm not going to stay in Parliament. This is ruled out. I'm going to be in the position where I am today, because I have a lot of important work to do,” said Kvirikashvili.
The Prime Minister also made comments on the appointment of Dimitri Kumsishvili as the first Vice Prime Minister.
"This is due to the fact that I and Kakha Kaladze will be very actively involved in the elections, while the economic team needs a good coordination. Therefore, all kinds of rumors and speculation about this matter is inappropriate," he said. (IPN)
CEC: Number of Voters 3.47 Million
The number of Georgia’s eligible voters stands at 3,473,316 according to figures released by the Central Election Commission on June 13.
The CEC is responsible for compiling voter lists based on data provided on quarterly basis by the relevant authorities, primarily the Justice Ministry’s Public Service Development Agency.
The election commission will have to release updated figures on number of voters no later than October 3, five days before the parliamentary elections.
Data released by the CEC also includes the number of voters in each of the 73 election districts.
Georgia’s election districts have been redrawn to narrow the huge discrepancy in the size of single-mandate constituencies by merging some small districts and dividing larger ones.
As a result boundaries of single-mandate constituencies no longer coincide with those of administrative borders of municipalities.
The number of voters in each election district varies from 41,598 in the smallest one (Tbilisi’s single-mandate constituency covering mostly the capital city’s Vake district) to 54,168 in the largest one (Rustavi is one of the two single-mandate constituencies).
Before the redistricting, the number of voters was ranging from over 150,000 in the largest one to less than 6,000 in the smallest one.
Lawmakers from the opposition UNM party have challenged the electoral redistricting in the Constitutional Court, claiming that the boundaries were redrawn to the detriment of opposition parties.
The Constitutional Court found the appeal admissible and it is now being considered. As an interim measure pending the verdict, applicants also wanted to suspend application of the disputed clauses of the election code, but the request was declined by the Constitutional Court. (Civil.ge)
Angela Merkel to visit Georgia ‘in the near future’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel might visit Georgia this summer, Interpressnews reports.
The news agency is quoting Reiner Haseloff, the minister president of the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, who added: “In the near future, chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to visit your country. I wish I could be a member of that delegation, because I want to learn more about your country from different sides. It is good that our partnership is becoming more intense and tight. This is a great achievement for both countries.”
Haseloff said Georgia and Germany will be cooperating more closely in the field of education and science and announced that a memorandum of understanding will be signed on expanding exchange programs.
Former Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili invited Merkel in June 2014. She accepted the invitation, and the government began preparing for her visit, which was confirmed by Garibashvili and Foreign Minister of Germany Walter Steinmeir in December.
But in February, 2015, Georgia’s ambassador to Germany Lado Chanturia said Merkel’s visit was postponed and would not take place that spring because Germany was hosting the G7 meeting. (DF watch)