46 Want to be President of Georgia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, September 10
Forty-six individuals have asked the Georgian Central Election Commission to register them for the October 28 presidential elections.
September eight was the deadline for political parties and initiative groups to submit their applications over the candidates to the Election Commission.
Now the nominees will have to present signatures of no less than 25,923 Georgian voters to be allowed by the commission to participate in the race.
The deadline for presenting the signatures is September 18.
"Forty-six applicants have applied to the Central Election Commission for registration as electoral subjects. 26 of them are submitted by the initiative groups, while 20 - by political parties.
“The list of supporters shall be submitted to the Central Election Commission no later than the 40th day before the Election Day, September 18. Proper service of the electoral administration will check the signatures. In the case of any violation, the appropriate initiative group/political party have a two-day deadline to correct it. After that, the service of the election administration will again check the submitted subscriptions. The deadline for registration of candidates is September 28, "said Anna Mikeladze, spokesperson of the Central Election Commission.
The Georgian Dream ruling party, which refused to have its candidate in the elections, stated that they would decide on who to support in the week.
Salome Zourabichvili, former Foreign Minister of Georgia, an independent presidential candidate who is said to be supported by the ruling party in the elections, has already submitted 73,000 signatures to the Central Election Commission.
Leading opposition parties have nominated their candidates: The United National Movement-former FM Grigol Vashadze and the European Georgia-former Parliament Speaker David Bakradze.
Current President Giorgi Margvelashvili stated that he would not run for the second term.
It will be the last elections when the president, with his restricted power, will be elected by people.
After five years the president will be elected by delegates from Tbilisi and regions.
