Telavi to Elect First Mayor in the Second Round

Mikheil Mamalashvili, Kakheti

Second round of mayor’s election will be held in Telavi and Coalition Georgian Dream’s candidate Platon Kalmakhelidze and United National Movement’s candidate Aleksi Dzuliashvili will contest each other in it. 

None of the candidates could overcome 50% election barrier. According to the Central Election Commission’s official data, Platon Kalmakhelidze of the GD received 43, 18% in 16 polling stations in Telavi that is 3 262 votes in total.

Platon Kalmakhelidze said he hoped for more votes.  “Although I expected better result, we still have second round. I hoped to get more votes in the first round. When the date of the second round is fixed, I will decide what to do and make relevant statement.”

Unlike him, Aleksi Dzuliashvili from the UNM expected second round of the elections; he gained 22, 26%. “I expected this result and knew that there would be second round. Because a lot of political parties were registered. In the second round we will present our program and it will be designed for the welfare of every resident of Telavi.”

According to the CEC, second round of the local elections will supposedly be held at the end of July. According to the Election Code, second round shall be fixed within maximum 3 days after final election results are announced and two weeks after the date is announced. CEC has 24 days to announce final results which includes terms for court proceedings on election issues.

CEC chairperson Tamar Zhvania said if there is no appeals sent to the court, the CEC will be able to announce final results earlier than 24 days.