Voting has begun in Georgia's municipal elections.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," municipal elections were scheduled for today in all 64 municipalities of Georgia, including five self-governing cities—Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Poti, and Rustavi. Sixty-four mayors and 2,058 local council members will be elected for four-year terms. Eight opposition parties 1 refused to participate in the elections, only the opposition "Lelo - Strong Georgia" and "Gakharia - For Georgia" did not support the boycott and nominated their own candidates.

Elections for mayors of 64 cities and more than two thousand members of municipal councils (sakrebulos) began in Georgia today. Mayors will be elected in the first round if they receive more than 50% of the vote. A 4% threshold has been set for parties to gain seats in the Sakrebulo, reports "News-Georgia."

More than 7,000 candidates from 12 parties are participating in the elections. Meanwhile, the ruling Georgian Dream party faces virtually no competition in a number of districts: in 27 municipalities, the ruling party's mayoral candidates are unopposed, and in another 25, they face only one opponent. Polling stations are open until 8 p.m. local time (7 p.m. Moscow time), the publication says.

Parties participating in the local government elections include "Fatherland, Language, Faith" (No. 1), "Conservatives for Georgia" (No. 3), "Our United Georgia" (No. 5), "Free Georgia" (No. 7), "Alliance of Patriots of Georgia" (No. 8), "Lelo - Strong Georgia" (No. 9), "Georgia" (No. 11), "Green Party" (No. 12), "People's Power" (No. 14), "Gakharia for Georgia" (No. 25), "Girchi" (No. 36), and the ruling party "Georgian Dream" (No. 41), Interpressnews writes.

As a reminder, the leaders of most of the opposition parties are Giorgi Vashadze, Nika Gvaramia, Irakli Okruashvili, Zurab Japaridze, Nika Melia, and Givi Targamadze are in custody. A detailed report on the persecution of protesters in Georgia is available in the "Caucasian Knot" report.

Since November 28, 2024, opposition members and activists have been holding daily protests outside the Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, blocking traffic on Rustaveli Avenue, demanding the release of all arrested demonstrators and the holding of new parliamentary elections. On October 3, the 310th day of continuous protests, activists again blocked traffic along the avenue.

Caucasian Knot has compiled materials about these municipal elections and the protests by opposition supporters on the thematic page "Georgia: Elections Amid Protests".