Vice-President of the National Association of Local Authorities of Georgia and The Chairman of Tbilisi City Municipal Assembly – Giorgi Tkemaladze spoke about the amendments made to the electoral legislation in recent years at the 48th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe.
As Giorgi Tkemaladze noted, the criticism was about 20 amendments, most of which were created in cooperation with Congress. According to him, this fact in itself speaks to the democratic nature of the process of implementing the amendments. According to the Chairman of Tbilisi City Municipal Assembly it is important that the OSCE final report on the 2024 parliamentary elections notes that “overall, the legal framework creates an appropriate basis for the holding of democratic elections.”
Giorgi Tkemaladze also spoke about the local self-government elections scheduled for October 4 and stated that Georgia is ready to host international observers, both on election day and during the pre-election period.
“As you know, such an authoritative international observation organization as OSCE/ODIHR confirmed that the parliamentary elections met international standards. The ruling party received 1.2 million votes in the elections and high legitimacy. Accordingly, the will and votes of the majority should not be ignored. As for the upcoming elections, we expect the cooperation of the Congressional Observer Mission within the framework of the upcoming local elections. “We also intend to conduct elections electronically, which is recognized as the most reliable system that almost eliminates the possibility of vote fraud and manipulation of results,” said Giorgi Tkemaladze.
The President of the Association also noted in his speech that the Georgian government highly values its cooperation with the Congress, recognizing its role in strengthening local democracy in Georgia. However, he added that it is unfortunate when resolutions based on biased perceptions harm Europe’s image among Georgian citizens.
“The above-mentioned resolution serves to deepen the polarization, which the Congress has been concerned about in its statements. As we have seen, before the elections, despite the resolution adopted at the 47th session, the ruling party received high legitimacy and gained great support. We believe that this resolution does not serve the interests of Georgia and goes against the will of the majority of the Georgian people. That is why we call on each delegate not to support resolutions that are based on mutually exclusive and biased perceptions,”- stated Giorgi Tkemaladze.
The 48th session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, currently taking place in Strasbourg, is also attended by Zurab Abashidze, Deputy Head of the Georgian Delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Deputy Chairman of the Tbilisi City Assembly. Additionally, representatives from the Tbilisi, Senaki, and Ozurgeti City Assemblies—Otar Grigolia, Sevdia Ugrekhelidze, and Tatia Nikolashvili—are participating, along with Irakli Chincharauli, Head of the City Hall Administration of the Tbilisi Municipality.