Mtavari Arkhi TV Commissions Polls, Predicting UNM's Victory in the City
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, October 29
The United National Movement (UNM) held a rally "Fight for Victory, Fight for Misha’s Freedom," in the western Georgian town of Zugdidi on the 27th of October, the same day as the Georgian Dream (GD) rally in the capital, Tbilisi. The UNM rally demanded the release of the imprisoned Mikheil Saakashvili, 3rd president of Georgia. Citizens gathered at the City Hall, where a special stage for speakers was located.
Before the rally, one of the videos of Mikheil Saakashvili, which was spread on the social network a few days ago and where he says that he is in his beloved and missed Samegrelo, in his Deduleti, was shown on the stage. Party leaders and members addressed the protesters. Among them was UNM Zugdidi mayoral candidate Anzor Melia, who is the father of UNM chair Nika Melia. He addressed party supporters, saying that he is happy to be running for Zugdidi mayor.
“If elected, I will be everyone’s mayor who loves Georgia… I have visited all of the villages twice, met with tens of thousands of people and I am thankful to God”, he said.
The rally was announced on October 26 by UNM member, MP Ana Tsitlidze. According to her, the fight for the freedom of Georgia is going on for the freedom of the 3rd president of Georgia, the founder of the modern Georgian state, Saakashvili, who is on a 26-day hunger strike. So as she pointed out, the main demand was his release.
UNM’s mayoral candidate for Poti, Gigi Ugulava said that Saakashvili should be the last political prisoner in Georgia. He noted that the opposition does not aim to replace one party with another, but instead offers coalition governance.
The opposition has been holding rallies since Saakashvili’s detention on October 1. Saakashvili who is facing several criminal charges remains on hunger strike at Rustavi # 18 penitentiary facility.
The next morning, the results of the survey, commissioned by the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi was released. IPSOS-Global, conducted a survey in large cities (with a population of more than 100 thousand), from 23 to 27 October, using the principle of random sampling, through face-to-face interviews, asking the population ‘If the elections were held next Saturday, which mayoral candidate would you vote for?’ 2,600 respondents over the age of 18 eligible to vote in these cities were interviewed. The results are based on the opinion of all these respondents. The margin of error in the study is +/- 3%.
According to results, the GD mayoral candidate is leading in 1 of the 5 cities - Tbilisi, while the National Movement is leading in the remaining 4. According to the study, the difference between the candidates is in some cases so small that, given the margin of error, the opposite result may arise.
Study finding are as follows: Tbilisi: Nika Melia (National Movement) - 48.4%;Kakha Kaladze ("Georgian Dream") - 51.6%. Zugdidi: Anzor Melia (National Movement) - 54.7%; Mamuka Tsotseria ("Georgian Dream") - 45.3%. Rustavi: Davit Kirkitadze (National Movement) - 53.1%; Nino Latsabidze ("Georgian Dream") - 46.9%. Kutaisi: Khatia Dekanoidze ("National Movement") - 51.7%; Ioseb Khakhaleishvili ("Georgian Dream") - 48.3%. Batumi: Giorgi Kirtadze ("National Movement") - 51.3%; Archil Chikovani ("Georgian Dream") - 48.7%.
The second round of mayoral elections will be held on October 30 in 20 cities of Georgia. The 2nd round is held in all 5 self-governing cities.
“This is another weak attempt, a sinful attempt to cover up yesterday's a triumphant event and the public will see all this in 2days, which will end with our victory,” Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili responded to the IPSOS survey results.
PM also assessed this study as not credible, alleging that IPSOS is only used as a name by the opposition-minded TV channel, in reality, the studies are falsified by Levan Tarkhnishvili, therefore, the results can’t be the subject of interest.
Head of the GD party Irakli Kobakhidze also commented on the study:
“As for the IPSOS surveys, they had a 12% error in the case of the first survey, and in the previous parliamentary elections, they had at least 9% error. You can add 9-9% to our candidate rates and you will get around the lower limit of our candidates. That is, this study confirmed that our candidates are winning in all 20 municipalities. It was practically self-lustration, which the desperate Gvaramia carried out yesterday by demonstrating his dreams,” Kobakhidze said.
Based on the final results of the October 2nd local self-government race, the GD received 46.74% of the vote and won the majority of mayoral constituencies, while the UNM received 30.68%, and former PM Giorgi Gakharia’s party For Georgia garnered 7.79%.
Mayoral election run-offs will be held in 20 of 64 constituencies of Georgia, as none of the candidates received at least 51% of the vote. In 17 of the 20 election constituencies, the candidates of the GD and the UNM opposition will compete, while in the remaining three constituencies, the ruling party will face the For Georgia party.
A total of 2,088,722 voters are eligible to participate in the municipal run-offs nationwide on October 30.
