Opposition Re-submits Mayor Referendum Request to CEC

Representatives from the opposition Republican Party, as well as from the public movement ?Forum for Welfare and Democracy,? re-submitted their request to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to appoint a referendum on whether city mayors and regional governors should be elected through direct elections.
 
If the CEC accepts the request, the parties would launch a collection of at least 200,000 signatures from Georgian voters in order to appoint a referendum. According to a new law, the Mayor in the capital Tbilisi will be elected indirectly by an elected City Council ? Sakrebulo.

The CEC has already turned down a similar request by the same opposition groups once on July 15, citing that the question which the opposition parties wanted to put forward at the referendum was not formulated ?clearly and concretely.?

Initially, the opposition planned to appeal the CEC?s rejection in court, but then decided to re-submit the referendum question to the election commission.

The CEC has to respond to this request by the opposition parties within a month.

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