NGOs state pressure on candidates for local deputies in regions of Georgia

In Georgia, a number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), involved in monitoring local elections, report about facts of pressure on candidates for deputies to local self-governments and heads of district administrations urging them to withdraw their candidacies.

The local elections will be held on June 15 with the aim to elect by direct vote members of sakrebulos (local self-governments), mayors of towns, which are self-ruled, and heads of district administrations.

Three NGOs, namely: the "Association of Young Lawyers", the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy" and the "Transparency International – Georgia", have reported, at a press conference held on May 30, about facts of pressure on candidates nominated by oppositional parties.

According to Nino Lomdjariya, the head of the "International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy", candidates received threats that their family members would be sacked.

The Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani, the Chair of the Inter-Branch Commission for Conducting Free and Fair Elections, has stated, in her comments on the NGOs' claims, that all the information received by her Commission had been sent to the Prosecutor's Office.

See earlier reports: In Adzharia, Gurta villagers to boycott local government elections in protest against HPP construction, Koba Khabazi, co-founder of the NGO "Free Zone", questioned by Investigative Service of Georgia's Ministry of Finance, PACE expresses concern over pressure on human rights defenders in Russia and Southern Caucasus.