Opposition party presents candidates for municipal elections in Georgia

The Gakharia for Georgia party has nominated its candidates in all 64 municipalities, and in most municipalities the party, together with the Lelo - Strong Georgia coalition, has nominated candidates for mayor.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, on June 23, a court in Tbilisi sentenced Mamuka Khazaradze, a representative of the Strong Georgia opposition coalition and the Lelo party, and Badri Japaridze, one of the Lelo leaders, to eight months in prison for failing to appear when summoned by the parliamentary investigative commission. The judge also deprived both of them of the right to hold office for two years. On September 5, President Mikheil Kavelashvili announced a pardon for Khazaradze and Japaridze. Representatives of other opposition parties called on their released politicians to cancel their decision to participate in the municipal elections, which was advantageous to the authorities.

According to the Gakharia for Georgia party, it submitted party lists to the city councils of all 64 municipalities.

"Our political force submitted party lists to the city councils of all 64 municipalities in Georgia. In addition, [we submitted candidates] together with Lelo - Strong Georgia in all major regional centers of Georgia and in most municipalities we submitted joint candidates for the post of mayor," Georgia Online reported.

Earlier, the party's leader Giorgi Gakharia announced that he had received a residence permit in Germany. According to him, he will not return to Tbilisi in the near future, and the long-term visa he received implies the right to work in Europe for a long time.

"We are not talking about political asylum... No, this is the right to work, this work will also be directly related to Georgia, to its European future, and this work will be related to expert activity in the direction of European integration and EU expansion, especially towards Eastern Europe. Everything will revolve around Georgia," Paper Kartuli quoted him as saying on September 2.

We recall that in February, a parliamentary commission began work in Georgia to study the "crimes of the regime" of Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003-2012. The commission intends to prove that "Mikheil Saakashvili. href="https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/210899/">The Five-Day War in 2008 was initiated by the third president of Georgia.

The case of failure to appear at parliamentary commission meetings has become an episode of repression against politicians who are undesirable to the authorities, opposition representatives said.

The criminal prosecution of the oppositionists is taking place against the backdrop of protests that have been taking place in Tbilisi since November 28, 2024. Activists come out to the Georgian parliament every day and block Rustaveli Avenue. They demand the release of arrested supporters of European integration and the appointment of new parliamentary elections.

The "Caucasian Knot" has collected materials about the parliamentary elections and the protests that followed on the page "Caucasian Knot" href="https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/category/Georgia-elections-2024">Elections in Georgia-2024".