The opposition Alliance of Patriots party named Irma Inashvili, one of its leaders and Parliament’s Vice Speaker, as its mayoral candidate in Tbilisi for the upcoming municipal elections in October 2017.

The mayoral candidate was presented by Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, another party leader, at a news briefing on August 16.

He said that the upcoming municipal elections would be a political process and it would pass amid large-scale protests.

“These rallies will be organized by the Alliance of Patriots. So, we need a person, who will turn these elections into a political process and Irma Inashvili is exactly the person, who will add an absolutely new spirit to the elections,” Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi said.

Speaking at the same news briefing Irma Inashvili said that the ruling Georgian Dream party did nothing to change the election system.

“We all know that for already 25 years, mayors and gamgebelis [heads of municipalities] are interfering in the election process, manipulating with voter lists and intimidating voters,” Inashvili said. “So, it should be the struggle for free elections. It should be the struggle against usurpation of elections – the process, which is underway right now. It should be the struggle for freedom.” 

Besides the Alliance of Patriots, four other political parties and an initiative group have already named their mayoral candidates in Tbilisi.
 
Tbilisi voters will have to make their choice from the following candidates: Kakha Kaladze of the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia;  Zaal Udumashvili of the United National Movement; Elene Khoshtaria of the Movement for Liberty - European Georgia; Tengiz Shergelashvili of the Development Movement, and Aleko Elisashvili nominated by an independent initiative group.