Georgian CEC intends to hold second round of elections of mayors and district administration heads in mid-July

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia plans to hold the second round of elections of mayors and district administration heads in mid-July. However, the date has not yet been determined.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 15, Georgia held voting at the elections to local self-administration agencies. According to the Georgian CEC, the voting was attended by 43.31% of voters. As a result if the elections, votes elected 12 mayors of the cities, 59 heads of regional administrations and Sakrebulo (a city assembly, a local self-administration body). The second round of mayoral elections will be held in eight cities Tbilisi, Telavi, Rustavi, Batumi, Ozurgeti, Poti, Mtskheta, and Gori.

The Georgian CEC does not exclude the possibility that the second round of elections will be held on July 12-13.

In Tbilisi, the second round of mayoral election will be held between David Narmaniya, a candidate of the ruling coalition "Georgian Dream", and Nikanor Meliya, a candidate of the opposition "United National Movement" Party. According to the CEC's preliminary information, David Narmaniya gained 46.08% of the votes and Nikanor Meliya 27.97% of the votes.

Georgian political analysts believe that David Narmaniya will win the second round and that the difference between percentages of votes gained by the candidates will not be very impressive.

Let us remind you that on June 15, members of the opposition "United National Movement" Party reported on detection of violations committed at electoral precincts in the Marneuli District of Georgia (region of Kvemo-Kartli). On June 17, the CEC annulled the voting results from those two electoral precincts in Marneuli.

See earlier reports: "Foreign observers praise elections held in Georgia", "Members of "Georgian Dream" and "UNM" welcome second round of mayoral election in Tbilisi", "Observers from NGO "Transparency International-Georgia" fix 45 violations at voting".