This article needs to be updated. (October 2017) |
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Georgia |
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The Georgian local self-government election, 2017 (Georgian :საქართველოს ადგილობრივი თვითმმართველობის ორგანოების არჩევნები) was held on 21 October 2017 [1] to elect the bodies of local government of Georgia: 2,058 members of representative councils (sakrebulo) and 64 mayors of municipalities. The ruling Georgian Dream party won in all constituencies under the proportional contest and secured 63 out of 64 mayoral positions. The votes went into second-round runoffs in six municipalities, scheduled for 12 November 2017. [2]
Georgian is a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians. It is the official language of Georgia. Georgian is written in its own writing system, the Georgian script. Georgian is the literary language for all regional subgroups of Georgians, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz.
Local government in Georgia is administered at the level of the subdivisions of Georgia, which are known as the units of self-government or municipalities. The Georgian Law on Self Government defines a municipality as a settlement or a unity of settlement with defined boundaries, administrative center, as well as representative and executive bodies of government, and possesses their own assets, budget, and income.
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres (26,911 sq mi), and its 2017 population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.
There are two types of municipalities in Georgia: self-governing cities and self-governing communities. The representative councils (sakrebulo) and executive heads of municipalities – mayors are directly elected by the citizens of Georgia to a four-year term. The election date was appointed by the President of Georgia 60 days prior to the polls and countersigned by the Prime Minister. [3]
The President of Georgia is the constitutional Head of State of Georgia as well as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Forces. They represent Georgia in foreign relations. The constitution defines the presidential office as "the guarantor of the country’s unity and national independence."
The Prime Minister of Georgia is the head of government and chief executive of Georgia. The Prime Minister organizes, directs, and controls the functions of the Government and signs the legal acts of the government. They appoint and dismiss ministers in the government. The Prime Minister represents Georgia in foreign relations and concludes international treaties on behalf of Georgia. They are accountable for the activities of the Government before the Parliament of Georgia.
The previous elections were held in two rounds in 2014. Most of the sakrebulo (council) and gamgebeli (mayoral) seats were won by the ruling Georgian Dream coalition. [4]
Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia is the governing party of Georgia. The party was established on 19 April 2012 by the billionaire businessman and politician Bidzina Ivanishvili. It is the leading party of the six-party Georgian Dream political coalition which won the 2012 parliamentary election. The political party Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia currently has 115 seats in the 150-seat Georgian parliament.
The local non-governmental organizations monitoring the elections—the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) and the Transparency International Georgia—jointly assessed the pre-election environment as mostly peaceful and noted that, while political parties were noticeably active, "the ruling party's dominance was evident". [5] The most serious incident in the pre-election campaign occurred in the village of Kizilajlo of Marneuli Municipality in which the Georgian Dream's candidate and other persons were assaulted with a firearm at the party office on October 19. [5]
Marneuli is a district of Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli. Its main town is Marneuli.
In the 2017 Elections, the first ever openly-gay candidate ran for public office in Georgia. Nino Bolkvadze from the Republic Party, was aimed to take her place in the capital of Georgia. "Bolkvadze, who is running for the Republican Party, a small opposition force, said she hoped her campaign would put the spotlight on gay rights and change outdated public perceptions of LGBT people." [6]
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The Tbilisi mayoral election, 2017, (Georgian :თბილისის მერის არჩევნები) was held on 21 October 2017 to elect the Mayor of Tbilisi. Also Tbilisi City Concuil elections were held.
The Mayor of Tbilisi is an elected politician in Tbilisi. Before 2005 the mayors used to be appointed by the central government. In 2006 first mayoral elections were held in the history of the Republic of Georgia. The first elected mayor of Tbilisi is Giorgi (Gigi) Ugulava who was re-elected in 2006 after one year of being on the position of an appointed Mayor of Tbilisi.
The Tbilisi Sakrebulo is a representative body in the city government of Tbilisi, Georgia. It is also known in English as the Tbilisi City Council or Tbilisi Assembly. Sakrebulos were established as the legislative branch of local government not only in Tbilisi, but throughout Georgia, by reforms instituted in 1991 as the country declared independence from the Soviet Union.
The main candidates for mayoral election were Kakha Kaladze, former footballer and minister of energy from rulling Georgian Dream coalition, journalist Zaal Udumashvili from UNM, Tbilisi City Concuil member and journalist, Aleko Elisashvili, independent candidate, member of parliament Elene Khoshtaria from European Georgia and journalist, member of parliament Irma Inashvili, leader of Alliance of Patriots of Georgia
Pollster | Date | Kaladze GD | Udumashvili UNM | Elisashvili Independent | Khoshtaria EG |
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Edison Research | 22.09.17 —02.10.17 | 34% | 14% | 14% | 5% |
Metronome | 23.08.17 —15.10.17 | 33% | 13% | 29% | 14% |
Forum.ge | 03.08.17 —27.09.17 | 12.67% | 11.28% | 64.76% | 3.86% |
NDI | 18.06.17 —09.07.17 | 37% | 16% | 22% | 5% |
United National Movement is the opposition political party in the nation of Georgia.
The subdivisions of Georgia are autonomous republics, regions, and municipalities.
Ambrolauri is a city in Georgia, located in the western part of the country, on both banks of the Rioni river, at the elevation of 550 m above sea level. It is a self-governing city. At the same time, the city serves as the seat of the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti regional administration and of the Ambrolauri Municipality. According to the 2014 census, the city had a population of 2,047. Its area is 1.6 km2.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Georgia face legal challenges that non-LGBT people do not experience. Georgia is one of only a few countries in the former Soviet space that directly prohibits discrimination against LGBT people in legislation, labor-related or otherwise, and considers crimes committed on the grounds of one's sexual orientation an aggravating factor in prosecution. Despite this, homosexuality is still considered a major deviation from highly traditional Orthodox Christian values prevalent in the country, where public discussions of sexuality in general tend to be shunned. Consequently, homosexuals are often targets of abuse and physical violence, often actively encouraged by religious leaders.
The 2006 Polish local elections were held in two parts. with its first round on November 12 and the second on November 26, 2006. In the election's first round, voters chose 39,944 gmina councillors, 6,284 powiat councillors and 561 deputies to provincial voivodeship sejmiks. Additionally, 2,460 city and town mayors, borough leaders and other officials were decided by direct or runoff elections in the second round. The elections were seen as a test to the government of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, whose coalition between his own Law and Justice party and its junior coalition partners, the Self-Defense of the Republic of Poland and the League of Polish Families, had undergone a severe crisis two months prior.
Giorgi "Gigi" Ugulava is a Georgian politician and the former Mayor of Tbilisi (2005–2013). He was one of the former leaders of the United National Movement (UNM) party and former close ally of the former President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili.
The Republican Party of Georgia, commonly known as the Republicans, is a political party in Georgia active since 1978. Until March 2016, the party was a part of the Georgian Dream coalition that won the 2012 election, defeating the United National Movement.
The 2002 United States elections were held on November 5, in the middle of Republican President George W. Bush's first term. Unusual in midterm elections, the incumbent president's party gained seats in both chambers of the United States Congress. The Republicans picked up net gains of 2 Senate seats and 8 House seats.
The Georgian parliamentary election of 2012 was held on 1 October 2012 in Georgia. It was the 7th legislative election held since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The opposition Georgian Dream coalition of billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili won a majority of seats. President Mikheil Saakashvili conceded his party's loss.
In 2013, Georgia finalized its first-ever peaceful change of power and transition to a parliamentary republic. The Georgian Dream-dominated government, which came to power after defeating, in October 2012, the United National Movement led by the outgoing President Mikheil Saakashvili, promised more democratic reforms. The Georgian Dream candidate Giorgi Margvelashvili won the presidential election in October 2013 and the new constitution significantly reducing the authority of the president in favor of those of the prime minister and government came into effect. In November, the leader of the Georgian Dream, Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili announced his withdrawal from politics as promised earlier, and the Parliament of Georgia approved his nominee, Irakli Garibashvili, as the country's new head of government.
The Georgian local self-government election, 2014, was held on June 15, 2014, to elect the councils of local government, sakrebulo, and the Mayor of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.
Davit Narmania is a Georgian politician and the former Mayor of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. An economist with academic background, he was Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia from 2012 to 2014. He won the mayoral race in Tbilisi as the ruling Georgian Dream coalition candidate in July 2014.
Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on 8 October 2016 to elect the 150 members of Parliament. The ruling Georgian Dream coalition, led by Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, sought a second term in office. Opposition parties included the former ruling party and main opposition, the United National Movement (ENM); the Free Democrats, formerly a member of the Georgian Dream coalition and led by Irakli Alasania; and the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.
The 1979 Madrid City Council election, also the 1979 Madrid municipal election, was held on Tuesday, 3 April 1979, to elect the 1st City Council of the municipality of Madrid. All 59 seats in the City Council were up for election. The election was held simultaneously with local elections all throughout Spain.
The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia is a self-defined centre-right, conservative opposition party in the republic of Georgia. It was founded in 2012 by leaders from the Resistance Movement and its platform includes anti-Western positions. The party currently supports European integration, it supports Christian and democratic values, and the party demonstrates itself as a moderate-conservative party. The party campaigned against the building of a mosque in Adjara, saying “Turkey has too much influence in Georgia,” so it has been accused of Anti-Turkism. The party favours closer ties with both Russia and the European Union.