Parliament Speaker expresses confidence that ruling Georgian Dream party will secure victory in first round of mayoral elections across all 64 municipalities

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Saturday expressed confidence that the ruling Georgian Dream party would secure victory in the first round of mayoral elections across all 64 municipalities of Georgia and achieve majorities in local councils (Sakrebulo).

In his remarks, Papuashvili underlined that the ruling party remained in a waiting mode, avoiding premature celebrations.

“Of course, we have no preliminary plans. This is an ordinary election day. Let’s wait for the election results, and our expectation is that we will win in the first round of mayoral elections in all 64 municipalities and secure majorities in the local councils (Sakrebulo). So, we are waiting for now and are not celebrating anything; when we celebrate something, we will let you know”, Papuashvili said.

When asked why the ruling Georgian Dream party had not planned to celebrate alongside citizens if they were confident in majority support, the Speaker responded, “I think you don’t understand that these are local self-government elections, and the centre of celebration will be 64 places where the elections are taking place. This is not a unified election, and we are not only in Tbilisi”.

Local self-government elections are taking place in Georgia, with citizens voting to elect municipal council members and mayors for a four-year term.

Georgians are casting their ballots to select representatives to 64 local councils (Sakrebulo) and 64 mayors across the country.