Former football star wins Tbilisi mayoral elections

Kakha Kaladze, a former Georgia's Energy Minister and football star, has been elected Tbilisi Mayor; four parties were elected to the City Council (Sakrebulo); the majority belongs to the ruling "Georgian Dream" Party, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 21, Georgian citizen elected heads of 64 cities and districts, as well as 2058 deputies of 64 Sakrebulos.

According to the vote tabulation at all the Tbilisi polling stations, Kakha Kaladze scored 51.13%, that is, over 204,000 people have voted for him. The ruling party's candidate also became Mayor in Batumi, the CEC has reported.

In Kutaisi, a second round is possible, since, according to the data from 120 out of 124 polling stations, the ruling party's candidate has failed to win the required 50%, the RIA "Novosti" reports citing its source from the CEC.

According to the count of votes at 723 out of 737 polling stations, the "Georgian Dream" (53.03% of votes) is the leader at the elections to the Sakrebulo by the proportional system. The "United National Movement" (UNM) (17.65%), the "European Georgia" (9.2%) and the "Patriots' Alliance" (5.63%) have also go into the Sakrebulo, the CEC has informed.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.