Opposition Wants Referendum on Direct Elections of Mayors

Leaders of the opposition Republicans and Conservative parties, as well as from the public movement ‘Forum for Welfare and Democracy’, met on June 4 and announced that they will launch a petition to gather signatures from Georgian citizens in an attempt to convince the authorities to hold a referendum to find out whether the voters want direct elections of city Mayors and regional Governors.

Currently, the Mayors of the capital city Tbilisi and Poti are appointed by the President, as are all regional Governors. Recently, the authorities proposed s draft law that envisages the election of the Mayors by elected City Councils (Sakrebulo). The opposition, however insists on direct elections.

The opposition parties should apply to the Central Election Commission (CEC) with the request to appoint a referendum, after they collect 200,000 voter signatures.
 
MP Davit Berdzenishvili, the leader of Republican Party, said that this appeal by the opposition parties will be ?the first test for the new CEC.? The Parliament approved new members of the CEC on June 3. Parliamentarians from the opposition parties refused to support the nominations made by the President, claiming that most of them are affiliated with governmental structures and the ruling National Movement party.

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