Prime Minister approves election date
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, August 24
Prime Minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, has signed the President’s decision on holding the local elections on October 21.
Through the PM’s signature, President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s solution has come into play and election campaigns have begun.
Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has announced that this year Georgian voters elected 2,058 members of 64 City Councils and 64 mayors.
In the previous local elections held in July 2014, for the first time in Georgia’s history, 71 local self-government bodies (Sakrebulos) and 2,088 members of the Sakrebulos, 12 city Mayors and 59 heads of local municipalities (Gamgebelis) were directly elected by voters.
The CEC appealed to local and international observers to monitor the elections.
Shortly before announcing the election date, head of the CEC Tamar Zhvania was nominated for the Joe C. Baxter Award for supporting the development of electoral processes.
The Joe C. Baxter Award, established at the IFES nine years ago, recognizes the contributions of election professionals whose skills and dedication promote the principles of local ownership, transparency and sustainability in electoral management (Joe C. Baxter, as the IFES Senior Adviser, upheld these very same principles for many years).
The personal and professional achievements that have a positive impact on the field of election administration, effective management, commitment to the principle of local ownership, for the benefit of citizens in developing countries are the main criteria the Joe C. Baxter Award recipients are selected for.
Since 2009, the IFES honors the achievements of those professionals whose exceptional efforts support the protection of human rights, freedom, and democracy.
Since 1995, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems has been contributing to the development of democratic elections and political processes in Georgia. The organization has cooperated with the Georgian Election Administration for years and jointly conducted several large-scale and successful projects for improving the electoral environment. Since 1987, the IFES has worked in over 145 countries around the world and supports the development of democratic processes, the CEC reported.
The IFES will host the award ceremony on October 2 in Washington, D.C
Tamar Zhvania has been the Chairperson of the CEC in Georgia since September 2013.
