Opposition claims Tbilisi budget increased due to elections
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, August 17
The Opposition party members at Tbilisi City Council say that the increase of Tbilisi Budget two months before the local elections serves an aim of influencing voters by the ruling party “Georgian Dream.”
On August 15, Tbilisi City Council approved the increase of Tbilisi budget by 1.4 million GEL.
The total Tbilisi Budget amounts to 800 million GEL in 2017.
The representatives of Georgian Dream in the City Council say the increase took place at the expense of saving money from several other projects.
They ruling party said that 500,000 GEL was also allocated from Tbilisi Mayor’s Office reserve fund.
Part of the money will be spent on supporting people who were affected by the 2015 Tbilisi flood that claimed lives of several citizens and seriously damaged infrastructure of the city centre.
The opposition says part of the money will be spent on improvement of the infrastructure and roads prior to the elections in order to persuade people to vote for the candidate of the ruling party.
An independent candidate for Tbilisi Mayor’s post and now an independent member of Tbilisi City Council, Aleko Elisashvili, says the ruling team has only just remembered the people who experienced losses in 2015.
“It is very obvious that the increase is for the elections,” Elisashvili says.
The local elections will be held at the end of October this year.
An exact date for the election will be announced by President Giorgi Margvelashvili by the end of August.
