Category Archives: Campaigning

Campaigning intensifying in Presidential contest in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Campaigning, Home, News, Other Territories • Tags: ,

With less than two weeks until the elections, all four presidential candidates have stepped up campaign activities in the self declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR).

This past week saw incumbent president and presidential candidate Bako Sahakayan touring the NKR regions between official duties and expounding the improvements and developments implemented by his government. He started his tour in Kashatagh region, continuing onto Martakert by the end of the week. Pointing to infrastructure repairs made since his government took power five years ago, the president also made clear that much work was still needed and committed himself to continuing to improve infrastructure and social services provisions if re-elected. While in the northern part of Kashatagh region he promised to focus on developing the local economy. More…

Legal squeeze of Georgian Opposition continues.

Campaigning, Georgia, Home, Issues, News, Process • Tags: ,

Unperturbed by the legal squeeze on his party Bidhzina Ivanishvili was buoyant when he addressed a large crowd in Mskheta on 1 July.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the opposition coalition Georgian Dream (GD), had some of his assets impounded by the government on Tuesday for his refusal to pay a multi-million dollar (about $45 million) fine he was sentenced to for violation of party funding rules.

Ivanishvili has repeatedly stated that the government is acting beyond legal means and is targeting him as part of their campaign strategy leading up to the parliamentary elections to be held this autumn. More…

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EU increasingly concerned about growing political tension and polarisation in Georgia.

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The European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Štefan Füle, expressed his concerns regarding the increased political tensions in Georgia after meeting with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in Brussels on 28 June.

Füle noted that “the parliamentary election in October and presidential elections in 2013 will be important test cases for Georgian democracy and we encourage all political forces to respect the electoral process and make sure that the voting is free and fair.”

Acknowledging that Georgia has made important progress, he also cautioned that “it is also clear that Georgia needs to take further steps and continue this path of modernization and to consolidate democracy.” More…

Presidential Election Campaign underway in the Nagorno-Karabakh 4

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A monument that has come to symbolisa Armenian heritage in Nagorno-Karabakh

Campaigning began on June 20th in the run-up to presidential elections in the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) scheduled for July 19th, 2012.

The Head of the Central Election Commission, R. Petrosyan, convened a meeting on June 15th in which he announced the candidates and procedures for the upcoming presidential elections.

In accordance with the electoral code of the territory, 274 electoral districts have been established as well as one polling station in Yerevan, Armenia, to enable Karabakh residents, living there temporarily, to vote. According to the Armenian press, there are in total 97, 664 eligible voters. More…

Prosecutors and footballers, journalists and actors: a colourful mix of candidates start lining up for Georgia’s parliamentary elections.

Campaigning, Georgia, Home • Tags: , , ,

Political parties in Georgia have started preparing candidates for next October’s parliamentary elections.

Davit Sakvarelidze, has resigned from his post as First Deputy Prosecutor General of Georgia to contest a parliamentary seat in the capital Tbilisi

The First Deputy Prosecutor General of Georgia, Davit Sakvarelidze, announced on June 11 that he was resigning in order to enter politics. Georgian media have speculated over the last days that Sakvarelidze will become the majoritarian candidate for the ruling United National movement (UNM) in the Krtsanisi District of the Capital Tbilisi.

A UNM official told the Georgian news portal Civil.ge on that Sakvarelidze’s possible candidacy in Krtsanisi single-mandate constituency was under consideration, but no final decision was yet made.

In the meantime, at a Rally held in Kutaisi, the leader of the Georgian Dream Coalition, Bidhzina Ivanishvili has named six out of the twelve majoritarian candidates for the Imereti region of Georgia.

Gubaz Sanikidze, one of the leaders of National Forum – one of the parties within the Georgian Dream coalition will run in Kutaisi, which is Georgia’s second largest city and one of the largest single-mandate constituencies.

Kakha Kaladze, a retired footballer, who was a captain of the Georgian national team and who won the Champions League on two occasions with AC Milan, will run in his native town of Samtredia. He is pictured hear wearing the distinctive red and black Milan colours during match with Fiorentina

Kakha Kaladze, a retired footballer, who was a captain of the Georgian national team and who won the Champions League on two occasions with AC Milan, will run in his native town of Samtredia. More…

The battle for Kutaisi

Campaigning, Georgia, News • Tags: ,

Georgia’s main opposition movement, Bidzina Ivanishvili’s “Georgian Dream” coalition, took its campaign to the country’s second city Kutaisi, on Sunday, 10 June. Ivanishvili addressed a large crowd of thousands from behind a bullet proof screen, as concerns regarding the billionaire’s safety increased as his popularity increases. People from all over the Central Georgian province of Imereti congregated in Kutaisi’s David the Builder Square to hear Ivanishvili introduce the candidates who will run for the single seat majoritarian constituencies in the province on the Georgian Dream ticket next October.

Earlier the local government had refused permission for the rally to be held in the city’s main square.

The event in Imereti was an important test for Ivanishivili’s popularity outside the capital where it was thought that his support was weaker. Imereti is likely to be one of the most hotly contested areas during the autumn’s parliamentary elections in Georgia and unlike other regions outside the capital Tbilisi it has a record of voting against the incumbent government.

Kutaisi was always considered as the second most important city in the country and this has been re-enforced by the decision of the Georgian government to move the parliament there from the capital. The new parliament building was used last month for a special session of the Parliament addressed by President Saakashvili. Some MPs had expressed concern that the building was not safe and should not be used yet. On Friday a local worker was killed when scaffolding collapsed on him. This was the third death connected with the parliament building, a mother and child died on the site of the building during the demolition of a former a war monument to make way for the new legislature. The government has been criticised that in its haste to finish the building it is flaunting safety regulations .

The new parliament building was the subject of a story filed from Kutaisi on 10 June by the BBC’s Damien McGuiness for the BBC web site.

“Looking like some sort of 1960s sci-fi spaceship, a 40 metre-high domed eye, with a huge concrete eyelid, stares out blankly. This is Georgia’s new parliament building.”

 Read his story on line 

Source: CEW