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“Vakhtang Khmaladze demands irregularities in the voters list be fixed”

Akhali Taoba reports that the Republican parliamentary candidate from Tbilisi’s Isani district, Vakhtang Khmaladze, is sounding the alarm about alleged irregularities in the voters list:

“Several kinds of violations were found in the voters list. For instance, about 100 people are registered to vote from a single block of flats, but the locals don’t know anything them,” Khmaladze said.

According to him, this voters list has the same problems the January 5 presidential election.

“We discovered that at the first polling station in Isani district, 19 dead people are listed on the voters list. Their relatives say they informed the Central Election Commission, but the names are still on the list,” Khmaladze said.

He adds that there are irregularities in the list of voters living abroad.

“We discovered thousands of people whose addresses were wrongly indicated in the lists. There are many underage people listed too. Thus, we will appeal to the court regarding these violations and demand all of them be ruled out and improved. The Central Election Commission must look through the violations in a two-day term and improve them as well,” the majoritarian MP candidate said.



“55-year-old man died in Gurjaani market”

The Human Rights Center NGO is accusing local emergency responders of negligence after a man died in a marketplace, Rezonansi writes:

The emergency service was 30 minutes late.

Eyewitnesses told NGO representatives that they repeatedly called the regional emergency medical service.

The head of the regional medical emergency center, Manana Berikashvili, stated they have only two medical teams, both of which were sent to neighboring villages.

Reportedly Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs Sandro Kvitashvili gave several more ambulances to Gurjaani last week.

Human Rights Center representatives suggested the doctors were late because that day they were meeting with Davit Bakradze, the top name on the ruling National Movement’s party list.



“Manana Nachkebia: On May 21 Georgia will get rid of Mikheil Saakashvili and his ministers!”

Akhali Taoba writes that opposition politicians have criticized the selection of the new foreign minister, and vowed to unseat the government in this month’s parliamentary elections:

Manana Nachkebia of the oppositional New Rights and representatives of the nine-party opposition coalition said Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze’s evaluation of the newly-appointed foreign minister was absolutely incomprehensible.

“We are living in a police state, and now we will have an ‘appropriate’ minister […],” Nachkebia said.

She said that despite everything, she wished success to Eka Tkeshelashvili.

“Though I think that she will not be able to maintain her new position for a long, as on May 21 Georgia will get rid of President Mikheil Sakashvili and his ministers. The new government will select decent and appropriate candidates for various posts,” the opposition MP said.



“Viacheslav Bartsits: Tourists still visit Abkhazia!”

Sakartvelos Respublika quotes an official with the separatist tourism department in Abkhazia named Viacheslav Bartsits, who says the breakaway region’s tourism industry is booming despite threats of war:

“The Georgian administration makes scandalous statements about starting military confrontation in the conflict zone, but in spite of this the flow of tourists coming to Abkhazia still increases. We do not need any promoting, as our resorts are popular enough and we always have thousands of visitors,” Bartsits said.

According to him, the de facto department of tourism and resorts has contracts with various tourist agencies and they do not need to spend much money for advertising.

“We are doing our best to provide for the safety of our tourists. Thus there is no danger in coming and spending a holiday in Abkhazia,” Bartsits added.