44 Parties to Run in October’s Parliamentary Elections

According to Georgia's Central Election Commission CEC), 44 political parties have registered to run in the upcoming October 8 parliamentary elections.

The majority of the parties plan to form larger coalitions that will run the elections together.

According to the CEC, the United National Movement (UNM), Paata Burchuladze-State for People Movement and Nino Burjanadze’s pro-Russian Democratic Movement, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia-United Opposition and Industrialists-Our Homeland have all registered as party blocs.

Among the registered parties, 26 will run independently, including the ruling Georgian Dream party.

The CEC previously barred the blatantly pro-Russian Centrist party for not having a registered leadership. Two other parties - Neutral Georgia and the Communist Party – were also rejected by the CEC on procedural grounds.

In total, the CEC refused to register 19 parties because they failed to acquire enough public signatures to qualify.

On Wednesday, the CEC issued a statement calling on all the registered parties to adhere strictly to the election campaign rules.

The CEC also announced that it has registered 43 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and 24 international monitoring missions to oversee the polls on October 8.

By Thea Morrison

Edited by Nicholas Waller