Incumbent Tbilisi mayor Kaladze ‘sorry’ for need for runoff, says he is ‘sure’ he will win next vote
Incumbent Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said that ‘it needs to be analysed’ whether the return of Georgia’s third president Mikheil Saakashvili to Georgia ahead of municipal elections had any influence on the election results. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Incumbent Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze says that he expected victory in the first round of yesterday’s municipal elections, but says he is sure he will be victorious in the second round.
According to preliminary results Kaladze received 45.28 per cent of the vote in yesterday’s polls, while he needed at least 51 per cent of the vote to win the race.
Kaladze said earlier today that ‘there were all preconditions’ for his victory. However, the political situation over the past several days has changed the expected result.
He refrained from going into details, but said that ‘it needs to be analysed’ whether the return of Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili had an influence on the election results.
Maybe it is my fault (that I could not win the race in the first round). Maybe there was something I did not pay enough attention.That is why I beg your pardon,” Kaladze said.
Georgian Dream is convincingly leading in municipal elections with 47.25 percent of votes after over 90 percent of preliminary votes counted. pic.twitter.com/pitw8vrfEA
— Georgian Dream (@GeorgianDream41) October 3, 2021
Kaladze stated that receiving 48 per cent of the vote by the ruling Georgian Dream party in the proportional part of the elections for the city assemblies, after ten years in power, ‘is a convincing victory.’
Head of the ruling Georgian Dream party Irakli Kobakhidze said that the need for a runoff in Tbilisi ‘is particularly regrettable.’
However, he said, ‘Kaladze will definitely win the runoff.’
According to preliminary results from yesterday’s elections, Kaladze received 45.28 per cent of the vote, while the opposition United National Movement runner up Nika Melia received 34.27 per cent of the vote.
The runoff will take place between Kaladze and Melia for Tbilisi mayor on October 30.