Rule of Election of Tbilisi Mayor Sparks Debates

The Parliamentary Committee for Regional Policy and Self-Governance discussed two alternative draft laws in the capital Tbilisi on February 18 – one proposed by parliamentarians from the ruling National Movement party, which enjoys the government?s support, and another by New Rights opposition faction.

The draft proposed by the ruling party envisages indirect elections of Tbilisi’s Mayor by the capital?s City Council, while the opposition insists on direct elections of the Mayor. Currently the Tbilisi Mayor is appointed by the President of Georgia.

However, in his recent public speeches President Saakashvili has made it clear that the Mayor should be elected, starting from 2006. ?Directly, or indirectly…mayors should be elected,? he said on February 15.
 
According to the government-supported draft the elected City Council of Tbilisi (Sakrebulo), which will be reduced from its current size of 49 members to 25 members, will elect the Mayor out of its members.
 
The City Council will be deprived of the right to dismiss the Mayor for the Mayor’s first six months, but will be free to employ the right to impeach the Mayor following that grace period. According to this draft the position of Premier of Tbilisi will be abolished. Currently the Tbilisi Premier shares powers with Tbilisi’s Mayor.
 
However, the opposition New Rights parliamentary factions, which has submitted an alternative draft, claims that the authorities ?are afraid? of a directly elected Mayor, because in this case the Tbilisi Mayor is doomed to become ?a seriously political figure.? Approximately, one-third of the Georgian voters live in the capital city Tbilisi.
 
?Tbilisites deserve to elect a Mayor themselves and we should not be afraid of it,? Mamuka Katsitadze of the Rightist Opposition said at the committee hearing on February 18.
 
The Constitutional Court ruled this week in favor of an appeal presented by a group of Georgian citizens and declared that the current procedure of appointing the Mayors of Poti and the capital city Tbilisi by the President violates Constitutional principles.  
 
Moreover, last October the Georgian Parliament ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government, one of the requirements of which envisages election of mayors.