New Candidates to Join Tbilisi Mayoral Election Race

After the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) and two main opposition parties – European Georgia and the United National Movement (UNM) officially presented their candidacy for the Tbilisi Mayoral elections, new players have appeared intending to join the race.

One of them is an independent MP of the City Council (Sakrebulo), Alexander Elisashvili, who has been very actively involved in Tbilisi life, especially when it comes to environmental issues and fighting corruption.

Elisashvili stated that he decided to participate in the elections at the request of Tbilisi residents.

“I have not come to politics to earn money. I know it is hard to believe, but I only want to help people and serve this country…When I get old I want to look back and be proud of my past,” Elisashvili wrote on forum.ge.

The Sakrebulo MP says that he will make an official statement about his decision in the coming days.

He believes that his main competitor will be Kakha Kaladze, former Energy Minister, the candidate of the ruling party.

“Kaladze is a very serious opponent. The most serious of all the others,” he admitted.

Some time ago, Elisashvili confirmed that he had consulted with the Republicans and Free Democrats non-parliamentary opposition parties about the coming mayoral elections, however, he ultimately decided to run as an independent Mayoral candidate and to not represent any political party.

Non-parliamentary opposition party New Georgia is also going to present its candidate for the mayoral race, which is predicted to likely be the party leader Giorgi Vashadze, who says that the party will make an official statement in the near future.

Vashadze has voiced his belief that the other candidates are “weak” and will “fail as mayors”. He criticized Kaladze, a former footballer who left his successful career and moved to politics in 2012 when former Prime Minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, set up the GD coalition, and said that the UNM candidate, Zaal Udumashvili, who left Rustavi 2 TV to participate in the election, will never succeed.

Of the European Georgia candidate Elene Khoshtaria, Vashadze says that she is a specialist in international relations and lacks the know-how to govern the capital.

“The main need in this country is for people to stick to the job they know,” the leader of New Georgia said.

“I hope people will make a rational choice during the elections. Otherwise, the situation will no doubt worsen in Tbilisi,” he added.

The local elections are scheduled for October 2017.

Thea Morrison