GD Calls on its Supporters to Gather at Freedom Square on October 27
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Tuesday, October 26
A few days before the second round of self-government elections, on October 27, the ruling Georgian Dream party is holding a rally. The Chairman of the party Irakli Kobakhidze called on the supporters to gather at Freedom Square in central Tbilisi at 17:00 local time.
He also urged the public earlier today to actively participate in municipal election run-offs on October 30, "to ensure the victory of the ruling party candidates in all constituencies."
“Tens of thousands of our citizens will gather to show once again the strength of the Georgian people fighting for the ultimate defeat of evil, for the protection of dignity and freedom, for the advancement and development of our country... Victory is arriving on October 30,” he said.
It was on this spot 2 weeks ago that the “United National Movement” held a rally, demanding the release of former president Mikheil Saakashvili from prison. Kobakhidze, in answer to speculations, explained that this gathering is in no way a ‘counter rally’ as some have argued.
“It is the conclusion of the election campaign. To put it simply, how many men did they have gathered at their rally? Now you can judge for yourself whether this is a counter-rally or a real one aimed at once again showing the people their strength for the people, the public, the Georgian people must prove once again that they want freedom,” the chairman emphasized.
He stated that ruling party supporters significantly outnumber those who attended the recent UNM rally.
“We need as many drivers alone to bring our supporters to Tbilisi as participated in the UNM rally,” Kobakhidze said.
Mayoral and majoritarian run-offs will be held in 20 of 62 election constituencies on October 30. Mayors will be elected in 5 big self-governing cities - Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Batumi, and Poti and 15 self-governing municipalities - Telavi, Tianeti, Khashuri, Kareli, Tsageri, Bagdati, Tskaltubo, Ozurgeti, Senaki, Martvili, Khobi, Zugdidi, Tsalenjkha, Chkhorotsku and Khelvachauri; and majoritarian members in 24 constituencies.
The mayoral candidates who failed to get the required number of votes to win the first round on October 2, with more than 50% of the vote, and the majoritarian candidates, who had to cross the 40% threshold to win, advanced to the second round.
Candidates need a simple majority of votes to win the second round. In particular, the runoffs in 17 of 20 constituencies will be held between the candidates of the GD and the UNM, while in 3 other constituencies, the GD candidates will face the representatives of For Georgia, For United Georgia, and an independent candidate.
Meanwhile, the Central Election Commission of Georgia has completed work on a unified list of voters for the second round of municipal elections. According to the information, the total number of voters is 2,088,722. The total number of voters in Tbilisi, which will also hold run-offs, is 1,002,525.
Out of the total number of voters in the capital, 41,314 are registered in the Krtsanisi constituency, where citizens are voting for the first time this year using electronic technologies.
For the first round of voting, which was held on October 2 in 64 municipalities of Georgia, the total number of voters was 3,497,345. 51.92% or 1,815,776 of them participated in the elections.
According to the final results of the first round of the race, the ruling GD received 46.74% of the vote, the UNM opposition party received 30.68% while former PM Giorgi Gakharia 'For Georgia' party garnered 7.79% of the vote in the proportional part of the elections. All other parties finished with under 3% of the vote.
