2021 Georgian Local Elections

The Georgian local self-government election, 2021, ( ka, საქართველოს ადგილობრივი თვითმმართველობის ორგანოების არჩევნები) was held on 2 October 2021 to elect the bodies of local government of Georgia.

Tbilisi mayoral election, 2021

The Tbilisi mayoral election, 2021, (Georgian: თბილისის მერის არჩევნები) was held on 2 October 2021 to elect the Mayor of Tbilisi in parallel to the Tbilisi City Sakrebulo elections.

The main candidates for the mayoral election are Kakhi Kaladze, current Mayor of Tbilisi and former Minister of Energy from the ruling Georgian Dream party, Nika Melia, Member of Parliament from the United National Movement, and Giorgi Gakharia, former Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs from the recently established For Georgia party.

In total, 16 candidates were nominated for the Tbilisi mayoral election as of 5 September.

Opinion polls

Electoral system

Local self-government is the right and ability of citizens of Georgia to solve, within the legislation of Georgia, local issues through local authorities elected by them. There are two types of self-governing units (municipalities): self-governing cities and self-governing communities. A self-governing city is a settlement of an urban category, while a self-governing community is an aggregation of several settlements with administrative boundaries and an administrative centre. There are 5 self-governing cities and 59 self-governing communities. Self-governing cities are Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Rustavi, Poti. The representative bodies (a representative council, in Georgian '' Sakrebulo'') and a mayor, the head of the executive bodies, are directly elected by the citizens of Georgia registered in a self-governing unit to a four-year term. Members of Sakrebulos of the self-governing communities and the self-governing cities are elected through the majoritarian and proportional electoral systems. The election date is appointed by the President of Georgia 60 days prior to the polls and countersigned by Prime Minister.

Following the first round of 2020 Georgian parliamentary election, eight opposition parties accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of election fraud and stated that they would not attend parliamentary sittings, calling for the repeat parliamentary election. This caused the political crisis in Georgia. The Georgian Dream and the opposition agreed to hold negotiations facilitated by the EU to resolve the crisis. In January 2021 the Citizens party, which recently found itself at odds with the rest of the boycotting opposition, began separate negotiations with the ruling party and agreed to quit the opposition's boycott and enter the Parliament after having signed electoral reform deal with the Georgian Dream. In March the MPs Shalva Papuashvili and Levan Ioseliani (from the Georgian Dream and Citizens respectively) drafted electoral amendments bill. On April 19 the Georgian Dream party and the rest of the opposition signed reconciliation agreement with EU mediation, which, along with other reforms, envisaged a change in the electoral system at the local level: 4:1 proportion of proportional and majoritarian seats in five major cities and 2:1 proportion in all others. At the same time, a 3% threshold was set in the proportional system in the regions and a 2.5% threshold in Tbilisi. The 40% demand was set in the majoritarian system. The amendments were revised in line with the agreement and adopted on June 28.

The Annex No. 1 to the сurrent Election Code regulates the compositions of Sakrebulos of self-governing communities and self-governing cities, except the Tbilisi Sakrebulo, which is composed of 50 members, out of which 10 members are elected in the territory of local single-seat majoritarian electoral districts, and 40 are elected through the proportional electoral system in the whole territory of Tbilisi municipality.

Along with the electoral reform, the agreement with the opposition obliged the Georgian Dream party to call for the snap parliamentary elections if it fails to garner 43% of proportional vote on the local elections. On July 28 the Georgian Dream unilaterally left the agreement. The head of the Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze has stated that the main reason for the withdrawal from the agreement was that "the opposition nited National Movementparty which won the most opposition seats in parliament refused to join the agreement and other opposition parties were consistently violating the agreement, the ruling party was the only which was fulfilling the agreement".

Compositions of Sakrebulos of self-governing communities and self-governing cities (except for Tbilisi City) according to the Annex No. 1 to the Election Code:

Results

Self-governing City Counsils

Municipal Councils by Region

;Imereti

; Kvemo Kartli

; Adjara

; Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti

;Kakheti

; Shida Kartli

See also

* Administrative divisions of Georgia (country)
* Local government in Georgia (country)
* Tbilisi City Assembly
* Kutaisi City Assembly
* Batumi City Assembly

References

{{Georgian elections

2021 in Georgia (country)
Local elections in Georgia (country)
October 2021 events in Europe
2021 elections in Europe