CEC to Announce Ruling on Mayor’s Referendum on July 15

Representatives from the opposition Republican and Conservative parties, as well as from the public movement ‘Forum for Welfare and Democracy,’ met with the members of the Central Election Commission (CEC) on July 14 to discuss a request by these parties to hold a referendum in an attempt to find out whether the Georgian voters want directly elected city Mayors.

A group of these opposition parties, which demand direct elections of the city Mayors, submitted a request to the CEC to launch a collection of 200,000 signatures of Georgian voters, the amount needed to hold a referendum. The CEC has to announce its decision whether to give approval or not on July 15.

After the meeting, the representatives of the opposition parties said that the CEC officials have some “minor remarks” which hardly can be considered reasons for turning down their appeal.

“I want to assure everyone that whatever our decision is, it will be based on strong arguments. If the society wants the CEC to be independent, than it should be independent from the public opinion as well,” Gia Katamadze, the Chairman of the CEC told reporters, referring to the results of the recent opinion polls, which say that more than 80% of Tbilisites want to elect the capital city’s Mayor directly.

The Parliament passed on July 1 a new rule for electing a Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo) and Mayor, which says that the elected City Council will elect the Mayor.

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