Live updates: Georgians go to the polls

• 1 min read

▲An election poster for Georgian Dream's Kakha Kaladze alongside a poster for Aleko Elisashvili’s Citizen’s Party. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

Georgians go to the polls today for municipal elections that are seen as a key test for the ruling Georgian Dream party after nine years in power and a series of scandals.

Datablog | Georgians are split on election quality

Milord Shengelia

••4 min read

The holding of free and fair elections is central to democracy, yet, if elections are not considered free and fair, then polarisation and questions about their legitimacy can divide society. Polling from CRRC Georgia suggests a deep partisan divide in Georgia when it comes to views on the quality of elections in the country. Data CRRC Georgia collected before the 2021 municipal elections for ISFED and after the elections for NDI shows that supporters of the ruling party and opposition were and

A polling station in Batumi on 2 April 2022. Photo: Shota Kincha/OC Media.

2021 Georgian Local Elections

Georgian Dream edges closer to taking back the Batumi legislature

Shota Kincha

••6 min read

Georgian Dream have won a byelection for the Batumi City Council. While the council is now formally hung, a ‘neutral’ candidate is suspected to be a ruling party ally. Georgian Dream’s candidate Ramaz Jincharadze won a convincing victory in Saturday’s vote for a majoritarian council seat in Batumi, Georgia’s second-largest city and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. The result will upset plans by opposition groups the United National Movement (UNM) and Lelo to deny the ruling

UNM member Giorgi Kirtadze holding a press-conference in Batumi. Photo via Batumelebi.

2021 Georgian Local Elections

Opposition claim fatal pressure on Batumi councillor

Shota Kincha

••3 min read

The opposition appears to have lost their majority on the Batumi City Council after the death of a councillor, allegedly following pressure from the government. Nugzar Putkaradze died last Thursday in what his sister, who also sits on the city council, has said was a diabetic attack. The opposition United National Movement (UNM) have claimed that his blood sugar levels skyrocketed leading to his death after repeated attempts by people connected to the ruling party to make him defect. Putkara

Municipal elections in Georgia. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

2021 Georgian Local Elections

Datablog | Do people think voter secrecy is respected in Georgia

Tsisana Khundadze

••4 min read

International and local election observers often note violations of the secrecy of the ballot in Georgia, and the 2021 local elections were no exception. According to a recent study, a plurality of people think such violations could take place in Georgia, and some have heard of such cases in the past year. On the survey on election-related attitudes carried out by CRRC Georgia for ISFED, respondents were asked about a hypothetical country where a citizen’s vote was somehow revealed to a neig