New Rights Boycott Elections after Patarkatsishvili Refuses to Run

Leader of the opposition New Rights party MP Davit Gamkrelidze said on Monday that his party will boycott the October 5 local self-governance elections, as influential tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili has refused to run in the Tbilisi mayoral race.

The New Rights party wanted Patarkatsishvili to be its nominee for the Tbilisi mayoral position, and had extensive consultations with the tycoon in an attempt to convince him to run.

“In the current situation, when the [election] law is in favor of the authorities, Patarkatsishvili has refrained from running in the elections,” MP Gamkrelidze said at a news conference on September 11.

He added that “The only way out of the existing political crisis is early parliamentary elections.?

Currently there are four candidates officially registered in the Tbilisi mayoral race: Koba Davitashvili, the leader of opposition Conservative Party; ex-Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili, who leads the Georgia?s Way opposition party; beer magnate Gogi Topadze, nominated by the Industrialist opposition party; and incumbent Mayor Gigi Ugulava, the candidate from the ruling National Movement party.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)