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The News in Brief

Thursday, October 13
Georgia and Ukraine viza liberalization issue not on the agenda of next EU Parliament session

The issue of Ukraine-EU visa liberalization has not been on the agenda of next EU Parliament session that is planned to be held on October 24-27, eurointegration.com.ua reports.

As reported by the website, the session's agenda has been published on the EU Parliament official webpage. No mention of Georgia’s visa liberalization and suspension mechanism issues are on the agenda.

On October 5 ,the EU Council decided that Georgia’s visa liberalization will take effect once the suspension mechanism is in force. (IPN)



1, 814, 276 voters participated in the October 8 Parliamentary Elections

A news briefing was conducted at the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, and as Ana Mikeladze, the CEC Spokesperson announced, the election results of all election precincts are counted and available for everyone at the CEC website at results.cec.gov.ge.

“At this stage, the data is being verified and finalized. We would like to remind you, that the summarizing of election results conducted through proportional election systems shall be completed no later than October 27,” stated Ana Mikeladze. According to legislation, the second round of elections will be called after summarizing the election results of the first round. Consequently, the deadline for conducting the second round elections is November 2. The two candidates having the best results in the first round shall run in the second round of elections. Based on the preliminary results, the second round of elections will be held in 50 majoritarian election districts, though the final results will be declared after the relevant procedures defined by the legislation are completed.

Ana Mikeladze presented the statistics of gender breakdown, namely: 1 814 276 voters participated in the October 8 Parliamentary Elections, out of which 51.1 % - (927069) is women and 48.9% (887207) men.

The CEC Spokesperson also talked about the terms of complaints’ submission and the process of their discussion – “Today, at 18:00, terms for submitting the complaints at District Election Commissions (DEC) have been expired and their discussion is in progress. According to the procedures, the DECs discuss the complaints within two days after their registration, and the DEC ordinances might be appealed at the relevant court” – noted Ana Mikeladze.

According to the latest data, the summary protocols of 6 election precincts were annulled by the DECs. “In addition, certain number of complaints were upheld at this stage; Most of them refers to imposing disciplinary liability measures to commission members. It should be noted, that in specific cases, by the decisions of some DECs, disciplinary liability measures were imposed to certain members of the PECs, however it were not requested,” stated Ana Mikeladze. (ipn)



Fastest way from city centre to recreational Turtle Lake

A half century after its opening, the Turtle Lake cable car is still in service of Tbilisi locals and guests.

Yesterday, after a seven-year break, the renovated Turtle Lake cable car opened in Georgia’s capital city.

Via two alternating gondolas, a new cable car will transport about 2,000 people per day to Turtle Lake, located on the top of a hill that overlooks Vake district.

The ride will take six minutes and will cost 1GEL.

“The cable car is now fully modernised: the gondolas are fixed, cable pulling ropes have been changed, two entry stations have been rehabilitated, and new and modern control system have been installed. However, we have maintained the old appearance of the gondolas and the two stations,” said Tbilisi Mayor Davit Narmania.

Tbilisi City Hall renovated the old cableway which was built in 1965 and needed to be completely restored. Due to technical problems, the Turtle Lake cable car was closed seven years ago, but today it reopened with new glory.

The restored gondolas are now able to carry about 10-12 people, including people in wheelchairs and others with disabilities.

People can access the new cable car from the entry station on Chavchavadze Ave, at the Vake Park end.

From the top cable car station, people can walk a short distance to the Tbilisi Open Air Museum of Ethnography, which displays examples of historic folk architecture and craftwork from various regions of Georgia. Before there was no public transport to the Museum or Turtle Lake recreation zone, meaning people had to drive or take a taxi to visit the two sites.

Tbilisi City Hall allocated 1,100,000 GEL (about $469,136/ˆ425,733*) to local firm Bagirmsheni to restore the old cableway that once existed up to Turtle Lake. (Agenda.ge)