A total of 48 054 voters will head to polls on April 28 to elect a majoritarian MP from the Vani and Khoni single-mandate constituency in Imereti region of western Georgia.

Nine candidates have been registered for the polls, including the ones nominated by the Georgian Dream and the European Georgia parties, Givi Chichinadze and Gigi Ugulava, respectively. 

The third parliamentary party - the Alliance of Patriots - has fielded a candidate as well - Germane Khurtsidze. Five more have been named by non-parliamentary opposition parties, and the remaining one - by an initiative group.

The joint registration of the United National Movement and the National Democratic Party was annulled due to their failure to nominate a candidate. The latter is among the group of ten non-parliamentary opposition parties, which has expressed its boycott to the by-elections.

The majoritarian seat in the Vani and Khoni single-mandate constituency became vacant after Grigol Liluashvili, a ruling party lawmaker, who chaired the Parliament’s committee for regional policy and self-governance, was appointed the deputy head of the State Security Service.