Page 7 - GEOGRptJun19

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili raising the issue of the delimitation of the Azerbaijani-Georgian border in March, during her first visit to Azerbaijan in her capacity as president. She then visited David Gareji on April 20, a week before Easter. There she met Georgian border guards and called for progress in the border demarcation process.
“The question of defining the border brooks no delay,” she said, purportedly speaking from a spot that Azerbaijan regards as part of its territory, Eurasia.org said .
“I was told the head of the guard service faced problems due to the visit [as Azerbaijani officials did not know about it] and now, to save his career, he has decided to take these measures,” Georgian Archimandrite Kirion told IPN news agency after Azerbaijani guards prevented access to Udabno monastery on April 26.
The border between Georgia and Azerbaijan has actually come to be seen as the least problematic of the frontiers in the South Caucasus, Eurasia.net wrote lately.
David Gareji, a cradle of Georgian architecture, painting and science, was founded in the 6th century and the borders around it have changed repeatedly. The Soviets divided the area between the then-Soviet Union republics of Azerbaijan and Georgia. They also set up a military training site at the complex.
After breaking from the Soviet Union in 1991, Georgia tried to regain control over the entire complex by offering land elsewhere as part of a swap with Azerbaijan, but talks were eventually shelved and the special demarcation commission has since lain dormant.
2.3 Georgia’s ruling party wins all mayoral by-elections and leads in battle for vacant seat in parliament
Preliminary results published by Georgia’s election administration show that the country’s ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) won the five mayoral by-elections held at the weekend, including the poll in Zugdidi, where Sandra Roelofs of the United Opposition was competing against GD’s Giorgi Shengelia.
GD was also in the lead in the race for a vacant MP’s seat in Mtatsminda, but a runoff will decide that contest. The seat became available after Salome Zurabishbili won the presidential election late last year. GD candidate Vladimer (Lado) Kakhadze received the largest number of votes (41.28%) in the Mtatsminda by-election. His main rival is European Georgia/Free Democrats candidate Shalva Shavgulidze, who took 36.72% of the vote, according to the preliminary count.
The voting process in Georgia’s by-elections “was for the most part held without major violations,” the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) and the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) reported. Both organisations mentioned minor irregularities.
7 GEORGIA Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com