Opposition Candidate Wins Mayoral Race in Tianeti

The Tbilisi Court of Appeals upheld on October 27 the ruling of the District Court in Mtskheta, which annulled two decisions of the local election administration, and gave victory to Tamaz Mechiauri, opposition mayoral candidate in Tianeti Municipality of Mtskheta-Mtianeti region.

The ruling of the Tbilisi Court of Appeals is final and cannot be subject to further review, which makes Mechiauri the only opposition candidate to win a mayoral race in the country.

Tianeti District Election Commission decided on October 22 to recount the previously annulled ballot papers in precinct No. 20 and considered five of the votes valid, putting the ruling Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia’s candidate Lela Kitesashvili ahead of her only opponent by four votes.

Tamaz Mechiauri appealed against the ruling in the Mtskheta District Court, which upheld the lawsuit and annulled the election administration’s decisions, giving Mechiauri a one vote advantage in the mayoral race.

Tamaz Mechiauri, GDDG’s former member and former chairman of the Parliament’s finance and budget committee, quit the ruling party several months before the 2016 parliamentary elections and established his own party “Tamaz Mechiauri – For United Georgia.”

The party nominated party-list Sakrebulo candidates in Tianeti Municipality only. According to the preliminary results, Mechiauri’s party comes second, following the ruling party, with 31.22% of votes. The party named 10 majoritarian candidates in the municipal elections. Only two of nine candidates nominated in Tianeti municipality obtained a victory. One more majoritarian candidate was defeated in Dusheti election district.