Opposition Boycotts 2006 Local Elections

The opposition Republican, Conservative, New Rights-Industrialists and Labor parties announced on June 23 that they will not participate in the elections of the local self-governance bodies in Tbilisi, scheduled for autumn, 2006.

This announcement came shortly after the Parliament passed the government-backed new rule of electing Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo) and Mayor on June 23.

?This is a law which will lead to a one-party dictatorship and we prefer not to participate in these [local elections],? MP Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the New Rights-Industrialists coalition, said at the parliamentary session on June 23.
 
?We will not participate in the local elections either; the same decision has been taken by the Freedom party,? MP Koba Davitashvili, the leader of Conservative party stated at the parliamentary session.

?The Labor Party sees no reason to participate in these elections,? MP Temur Doishvili from the Labor Party said at the parliamentary session.
 
Leader of the Republican Party MP Davit Berdzenishvili said that the adoption of this new rule for electing the Tbilisi City Council and Mayor ?is a step towards a political confrontation.?

The new rule foresees a shift from the proportional, party-list based elections for the council to a first-past-the-post “winner takes all” system.  Instead of being appointed by the President, the Mayor would be elected by the City Council.

According to this rule, each political party can nominate two or three candidates for City Council membership in each of the constituencies. There are a total of ten constituencies in the capital. In the largest constituencies ? Saburtalo, Nadzaladevi, Gldani, Samgori and Isani ? the parties can nominate three candidates in each, while in each of the remaining five, relatively small constituencies, each party can nominate only two candidates. The party which garners the most votes in each of the constituencies will gain a seat in the City Council. 25 seats in the Council will be occupied through this system.

The remaining 12 seats will be occupied by those parties which garner at least 4% of votes in all ten constituencies.

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