Gakharia to be Mayoral candidate of political party For Georgia
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Friday, September 3
Giorgi Gakharia will be the Tbilisi mayoral candidate for the party For Georgia. Giorgi Gakharia talked about it while nominating the party's mayoral candidates, Tbilisi majoritarian candidates, and party-list members in the Tbilisi Sakrebulo for the local self-government elections.
According to him, he is taking this step as a sign of solidarity with other party mayoral candidates, “who have to protect the interests of Georgian citizens in the most difficult conditions”.
During the presentation, Former Prime Minister Gakharia talked about the establishment of his party and the 'country's difficult situation'. According to him, his party is not fighting against anyone, as the fight is not their main goal. He also said that the rating of his political party is increasing very fast, which shows how interested people are in the future of his political party.
The mayoral candidate of part of the opposition, Nika Melia, said that Gakharia's nomination does not change anything in terms of elections. He said that Gakharia's decision to participate in the elections has made the Georgian Dream's situation worse. “I do not rule out that there will be a second round in Tbilisi. However, I believe that I win the first round. Who will end up in second or third place - it will be determined between Gakharia and Kaladze,” said Melia.
MP Rakviashvili, a member of Girchi, said that Gakharia's decision increased the chances for the second round. "Of course, it is in the best interest of UNM for the second round to be held, and Gakharia's involvement in the elections has somehow helped UNM as well," said Rakviashvili.
In addition, it was also reported by some of the TV Channels that before the announcement, Gakharia visited Kaladze's office. Kaladze was asked about the visit by reporters, and he said that he still had no idea why Gakharia met him.
At the same time, as Kaladze told reporters, Gakharia himself called and said that he wanted to meet. According to him, he did not have any communication with Gakharia before the mentioned meeting.
“To tell you the truth, I did not understand anything, the purpose of the meeting, the reason ... The only thing that was said at the meeting was that he was running for office and he did not want me to hear about it on TV. He himself decided to tell me all this. The rest, to be honest, I could not understand,” said Kaladze.
Elections of local self-government bodies of Georgia should be held on October 2, 2021. Some of the Mayoral candidates include Giorgi Gakharia – For Georgia; Kakha Kaladze – Georgian Dream; Nika Melia – UNM and part of the opposition; Ana Dolidze – For People; Ana Bibilashvili – Lelo, and many others.
