Elections in Adjara & Tbilisi

Original: Elections in Adjara & Tbilisi

Elections for the local parliament in the Adjara Autonomous Republic—as well as Parliamentary by-elections in Tbilisi—were held Monday in a "most peaceful and quiet environment, without significant violations," according to observers from the Council of Europe.

"In comparison with previous years, the election system was really improved," said Gunter Kruger, the head of the CoE delegation and a member of the Berlin house of representatives. The Council's positive judgment was echoed by almost all other local and international observers, numbering over 1,500 in total. There were 21 international and 9 local observer missions in Adjara, and slightly fewer in Tbilisi for the by-elections. They noted numerous advances made in several aspects of the electoral process, including fair access to the airwaves and to administrative resour d Kruger during his Tuesday press conference.

The United National Movement party of President Saakashvili won an easy victory in Adjara, despite not having mounted a major campaign. Meanwhile, the UNM did not contest the Parliamentary by-elections in Tbilisi, in a gesture aimed at increasing pluralism in a legislative body that UNM dominates. The two, single–mandate constituencies were won by Guram Chakhvadze of the National-Democratic Party and Tamaz Kvachantiradze of the Christian-Democratic Party.

"Although Adjara is a very important region for me and the results of elections there are important for Georgia, neither I nor the central authorities participated in the election campaign," said President Saakashvili after the vote. "I asked the National Movement not to put ads on the central TV channels and we have not spent significant funds on advertising."