On 29 September, the opposition “European Georgia” party presented its party list for the upcoming elections. The party’s leader Davit Bakradze stated that the representatives in the list are not distributed consecutively, which means that voters themselves decide who enters parliament. The list included: Davit Bakradze, Gigi Ugulava, Giga Bokeria, Gigi Tsetsereli, Sergi Kapanadze, Elene Khoshtaria, Arsen Karapetyan, Akhmed Imamkuliev, Mariam Raminashvili and many others.
Meanwhile “European Georgia,” alongside the “United National Movement” (UNM), “Strategy Agmashenebeli,” “Girchi” and “United Georgia” signed a memorandum establishing a unified position on the principles of reforming the country’s economic and educational spheres. In terms of economy, the memorandum stated that a process of denationalisation of property into private ownership should take place. The memorandum outlined that ownership of unregistered land plots that are being used legally will go to those who are already using them and the same would apply to land plots which are being used communally. In addition, state property would be transferred to the private ownership of citizens.
Another big change that the memorandum emphasised was the reduction of the state and bureaucratic apparatus. It stated that no later than 2024, the government would be reduced to the level where its maintenance costs will not exceed more than 20 percent of the total GDP. In addition, a mechanism to prevent depreciation of the national currency would be developed within 100 days after new government entered office. In the realm of education, the memorandum stated that private educational institutions would be exempted from government regulations and that secondary schools would receive financial and managerial autonomy.
In the village of Nakhiduri in the Bolnisi municipality in Georgia a clash erupted between the supporters of the ruling “Georgian Dream” (GD) and the UNM. The majoritarian candidate of the GD for Bolnisi-Dmanisi, Tetritskaro and Tsalka, Gogi Meshveliani stated that during the incident, 10 members of the party have been injured and two of them were in critical condition. Meshveliani said that “a gang of 50 people under the influence of drugs allegedly fired indiscriminately” although no one was injured in the shooting. The Chairperson of Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) Tamar Zhvania responded to the incident by stating that it does not meet the ethical standards agreed upon by the political parties by signing the CEC-initiated Code of Conduct.
