14 Apply to Run for Tbilisi Mayor

14 persons applied to run for a mayoral office of the capital city, Tbilisi, in the June 15 local elections.

Deadline for applying the Central Election Commission (CEC) for registration as a candidate expired on the evening of May 16.

Ten of them have already been registered as candidates and CEC has several more days to decide on registration on four others.

Among those who have already been registered as candidates are: GD ruling coalition’s Davit Narmania, ex-minister of infrastructure; Dimitri Lortkipanidze, named by a coalition of CDM and Nino Burjanadze’s DMUG party; Kakha Kukava, named by an election bloc of New Rights and Free Georgia parties; MP Giorgi Gachechiladze, who is the leader of the Green Party and who quit the GD parliamentary majority in February; actress Asmat Tkabladze, named by the Labor Party.

UNM’s Nika Melia has yet to be registered as a candidate by the CEC, like three others: Irma Inashvili, who runs media outlet Obieqtivi, was nominated by Alliance of Patriots of Georgia; set designer Teimuraz Murvanidze, nominated by ex-foreign minister Salome Zourabichvili’s party Georgia’s Way; and Sergo Javakhidze, nominated by Self-Governance for the People election bloc of two small parties, who received 0.13% of votes in the 2013 presidential election.

Other candidates are: Mikheil Saluashvili, nominated by In the Name of the Lord- the Lord is Our Truth, who received 0.08% of votes in the 2013 presidential election; Giorgi Liluashvili, nominated by Merab Kostava Society, who received 0.12% in the 2013 presidential election; Giorgi Lagidze of Future Georgia party, who was running for Tbilisi mayoral race in 2010 and received 0.14% of votes; Roin Liparteliani, nominated by the Council of Georgian Workers, and Irakli Glonti of the Reformers party.

A candidate has to win more than 50% of votes in the first round to be declared an outright winner of the race without requirement a runoff.