Political bloc removed from registration
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, September 13
Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has issued a statement in which it said the bloc Topadz e Industrial Party-Our Country was removed from the election legislation.
The removal meant the party was revoked of participating in the upcoming October 8 Parliamentary elections.
The CEC stated the block failed to present its party list on time, while bloc representatives claimed they met the all necessary procedures.
The deadline for presenting party lists at Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) expired late on September 8.
The election bloc admitted having certain technical drawbacks in the process of submitting registration papers, but denies missing the deadline.
“The CEC had no legal ground to revoke our registration,” MP Zurab Tkemaladze of the Industrialist Party said.
“We haven’t made any mistakes; there was some computer shortcomings in the process of printing out the election lists, when it comes to legislation, we made no mistake, we have a document proving we are right,” Tkemaladze added.
Now the bloc is expected to dispute the CEC chairperson’s decision in Tbilisi City Court.
The Industrial Party was a member of the Georgian Dream coalition, which defeated the nine-year rule of the United National Movement (UNM)-led government in the 2012 Parliamentary Elections.
However, this year the party intends to run separately from the ruling team.
Meanwhile, Georgia’s Prime Minister issued a decree about the dismissal of certain officials ahead of the October 8 Parliamentary race, as their naming on the ruling party list caused a conflict of interest with their current roles.
The people who had to quit their positions according to the decree were Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Archil Talakvadze, Secretary of the State Economic Council Giorgi Gakharia, Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze, Minister of Agriculture Otar Danelia, Deputy Minister of Corrections Tamar Khulordava and eastern Kakheti region Governor Irakli Shiolashvili.
Georgia’s Election Code read after the mandatory presenting of the lists a number of officials must resign until September 11 as their remaining on the official posts in the pre-election and election periods contradicted the law.
The Energy and Agriculture Ministers announced their resignation on September 10, while the resignation was officially approved through the PM’s decree issued on September 12.
