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Taxi drivers go on strike in Tbilisi

InterPressNews reports that taxi drivers gathered near the Tbilisi Hippodrome protesting a 30% decrease of travel tariffs. One of the protestors, Giorgi Gabrichidze, said it has become hard to carry on working under such circumstances.

“We do not have a working contract with the company and when we mentioned the difficulty of our situation to company representatives, they said if we do not like what we do, we can quit.” Gabrichidze said, stressing that the taxi drivers have been working with low tariffs for a long time.

According to Gabrichidze, they represent the Nostalgia Taxi Company headed by Nikoloz Khoperia. This company includes the following taxis on call: 200-200, 14-14, etc.

Taxi drivers are also asking that their cars be equipped with meters to measure how many kilometers each car drives. "When you are driving someone to either the 1st or 8th micro regions of Gldani he pays 5 GEL for distances which is unfair." one of the drivers Tariel Mamagulashvili said.

The drivers claimed they will not return to their jobs until their company's leadership makes an appropriate decision.



Kadagidze has removed his candidacy for Nadzaladevi by-election on Kordzaia’s behalf

Tabula reports that Zurab Kadagidze, an independent majoritarian candidate in the Nadzaladevi district has removed his candidacy on behalf of the Georgian Dream candidate Tamar Kordzaia.

Kadagidze said as an ordinary resident of Nadzaladevi district he will stand next to Kordzaia. Kadagidze said at a briefing at the Georgian Dream office that there are two reasons he has removed his candidacy. Firstly polls indicate that the Georgian Dream candidate has a high approval rating. Secondly, he supported the Georgian Dream coalition on October 1st and thinks this is the only party that can “fully demolish” the United National Movement (UNM).

By-elections are scheduled on April 27 in three constituencies – Nadzaladevi, Samtredia and Baghdati.