Page 6 - GEORptDec17

2.0 Politics
2.1 Georgian Dream wins run-off races for municipal
positions by a landslide
Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party has won five out of the six mayoral run-off races, the country's central election commission said on November 12.
Georgia held local elections for mayors and city council members in late October. The polls were dominated by Georgian Dream candidates, who won most of the important positions, including that of mayor of the capital Tbilisi. In those municipalities where no candidate secured more than 50% of the votes, run-off elections were held.
In five of the six important municipalities where such races were held - Borjomi, Kazbeghi, Khashuri, Martvili, Ozurgeti and Kutaisi, Georgian Dream candidates won. The only exception was Ozurgeti, where an independent candidate topped the standings.
This round of local elections has entrenched Georgian Dream's grip on power and confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that the party has no competitor in Georgia at the moment. The leading opposition party, United National Movement (UNM), was rocked by a humiliating defeat in the parliamentary election of October 2016, from which it has not recovered.
Some observers have expressed concern that Georgian Dream's domination of Georgian politics could erode democratic governance in the country.
2.2 Georgian PM reshuffles cabinet
Georgia's cabinet will be reshuffled to reduce costs and improve efficiency, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili told reporters on November 13.
Four ministries - environment and mineral resources, energy, sports and youth and corrections - will merge with the agriculture, economy, culture and justice ministries.
The reshuffle will also see Giorgi Gakharia, the current economy minister, appointed as interior minister and deputy prime minister and Dimitri Kumsishvili, the current finance minister, become the economy minister. In his place, Kvirikashvili proposed Mamuka Bakhtadze, the current CEO of state-owned Georgian Railways. Mikheil Chkenkeli, the deputy rector of Tbilisi State University, has been proposed as the new education minister.
The Georgian cabinet is dominated by members of the Georgian Dream ruling party, who largely preserved their posts following the parliamentary election of October 2016. The new government would have to be approved by parliament, in which Georgian Dream has a super-majority.
6 GEORGIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com