Tbilisi City Assembly Explained

Tbilisi City Assembly
Native Name:თბილისის საკრებულო
Coa Pic:File:Seal of Tbilisi, Georgia.svg
Coa Res:110px
House Type:Unicameral
Leader1 Type:Chairperson
Leader1:Giorgi Tkemaladze
Members:50
Structure1:Tbilisi City Assembly 2021.svg
Structure1 Res:250px
Political Groups1:Majority (29)

Minority (21)

Session Room:Tbilisi City Council, Tbilisi, Georgia.jpg
Session Res:250px
Voting System1:Mixed-member proportional representation (2005-present)Party-list proportional representation (1998-2005)Single transferable vote (1991-1998)
Website:http://tbsakrebulo.gov.ge/?lng=eng

The Tbilisi Sakrebulo (Georgian: თბილისის საკრებულო|tr), is a representative body in the city government of Tbilisi, Georgia. It is also known in English as the Tbilisi City Council or Tbilisi Assembly.

History

Sakrebulos were established as the representative branch of local government not only in Tbilisi, but throughout Georgia, by reforms instituted in 1991 as the country declared independence from the Soviet Union.[1] The first elections to sakrebulos was held on 31 March 1991. According to the 1991 legislation on self-governance, it was exercised in Tbilisi on two levels. Thus, there was Tbilisi sakrebulo to represent entire city, as well as rayon sakrebulos and each Tbilisi rayon (district) elected its own sakrebulo. Only these rayon sakrebulos were elected, while the Tbilisi Sakrebulo was composed of the chairmen and representatives of Tbilisi's rayon sakrebulos. Tbilisi had ten rayons and one daba (Tskneti), all of which had their rayon sakrebulos.[2] The elections were held with the single transferable vote system, which resulted in the broad representation of the opposition. The ruling Round Table coalition secured the victory and a majority of seats. The turnout was high, although this was more likely because the elections were held in parallel to the 1991 Georgian independence referendum rather than due to increased interest in the local self-government.[3]

The municipal councils ceased functioning following the 1991–1992 Georgian coup d'état. The local self-government was only re-established in 1998. The new law "On the Georgian Capital – Tbilisi" was passed by the Georgian parliament. The members of Tbilisi sakrebulo was elected through a fully proportional representation in 1998 and 2002.[3] [4] The Sakrebulo elections gained high importance because of their proximity to the parliamentary elections, with the parties seeing victory in the local elections as a bridgehead for the success in the parliamentary polls. The Tbilisi sakrebulo served both as a platform to challenge members of the very corrupt government of President Eduard Shevardnadze, as well as to pursue private mercantile interests too, with many of its members themselves being noticeably corrupt.[5] The 1998 Tbilisi Sakrebulo elections resulted in the significant success for the opposition, with the ruling Union of Citizens, despite finishing on the 1st place, being unable to secure majority of seats and the opposition Labour Party member Lado Kakhadze being elected to the chairmanship of sakrebulo. However, both in Tbilisi sakrebulo and others, its oppositionist members soon discovered that they did not have enough administrative resources compared to the centrally-appoined executive bodies. Moreover, many of oppositionist deputies were co-opted by the ruling party, and the success of the opposition soon made a u-turn, especially in Tbilisi. Lado Kakhadze himself soon left the Labour Party and joined the Union of Citizens. Therefore, the relative success of the opposition in the local elections did not preclude the ruling party from achieving a decisive victory in the 1999 Georgian parliamentary election.[6] [7]

Composition

The members of the Sakrebulo are selected through a mixed electoral system. Of the 50 seats, 40 are filled through direct elections in local districts of the city. The remaining 10 members are chosen by political parties and are apportioned according to their support citywide. From 2021 assembly has 29 members from the ruling Georgian Dream, 13 from the United National Movement, 4 from For Georgia, 2 from Lelo, 1 from Girchi - More Freedom and 1 from For the People.[8]

Powers

In accordance with the Code of Local Self-Government of the Organic Law of Georgia, the Sakrebulo exercises its powers to define the administrative-territorial organization of the municipality and its identity, organizational activities, determination of the personnel policy of the municipality, regulation and control of the activities of executive bodies; In the fields of municipal property management, social, amenities and household utilities, land use and natural resources use, municipal territory planning, transport and road economy, accounting, support for innovative development and informatization.[9]

The authority of the Sakrebulo in the field of administrative-territorial organization of the municipality and defining its identity includes:

Election results

The most recent city council election was held on October 2, 2021, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party! Lead candidate! Votes! %! +/–! Seats! +/–! Government|-| bgcolor= || align=left| Georgian Dream| align=left| Levan Zhorzholiani| 193 486| 40.40| 12.75| 29| 10| |-| bgcolor=#e4012e| | align=left| National Movement | align=left| Sopio Japaridze| 133 926| 27.96| 10.30| 13| 8| |-| bgcolor=#702F92| | align=left| For Georgia | align=left| Levan Dolidze| 42 596| 8.89| New| 4| New| |-| bgcolor=#fad406| | align=left| Lelo| align=left| Badri Japaridze| 17 373| 3.63| New| 2| New| |-| bgcolor=#327F37| | align=left| Girchi - More Freedom| align=left| Tengiz Kirtadze| 15 799| 3.30| New| 1| New| |-| bgcolor=#F2721D| | align=left|For the People| align=left| Aleksandre Ratishvili| 12 337| 2.58| New| 1| New| |-| colspan=9 bgcolor=lightgrey| |-| bgcolor=#8bc53e| | align=left| Citizens| align=left| Fatman Barjadze| 11 743| 2.45| New| 0| New| |-| bgcolor=#ff0000| | align=left| Droa| align=left| Elene Khoshtaria| 10 262| 2.14| New| 0| New| |-|-| bgcolor=#e7b031| | align=left| Alliance of Patriots| align=left| Gocha Tevdoradze| 7 915| 1.65| 3.97| 0| 2| |-| bgcolor=| | align=left|New Political Center - Girchi| align=left| Herman Szabo| 7 695| 1.61| New| 0| New| |-| bgcolor=| | align=left| Labour Party| align=left| Lasha Chkhartishvili| 6 293| 1.31| 2.59| 0| | |-| bgcolor=#003C7B| | align=left| European Georgia| align=left| Giorgi Noniashvili| 5 575| 1.16| 8.02| 0| 3| |-| bgcolor=#ff0000| | align=left| Strategy Aghmashenebeli| align=left| Sergo Chikhladze| 4 817| 1.01| 2.43| 0| | |-| bgcolor=#D3D3D3| | align=left| Other| | 9 133| 1.91| | || |-! colspan=3| Total! ! ! ! 50! ±! colspan=1||-! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout! ! ! ! ! !|-| colspan=9| Source: https://results.cec.gov.ge/#/ka-ge/election_45/dashboard|}

Previous election results

2017

See main article: article and 2017 Georgian local elections. ! colspan=2| Party! Votes! %! Seats! scope="col" | +/– ! scope="col"|Government|-| bgcolor=| | align=left| Georgian Dream| 205,994| 53.15| 39| 12| |-| bgcolor= #e4012e| | align=left| National Movement | 68,432| 17.66| 5| 2| |-| bgcolor= #003876| | align=left| European Georgia| 35,586| 9.18| 3| New| |-| bgcolor= #e7b031| | align=left| Alliance of Patriots| 21,775| 5.62| 2| | |-| colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey| |-| bgcolor=| | align=left| Labour Party| 15,112| 3.90| 0| | |-| bgcolor= #ff0000| | align=left| Strategy Aghmashenebeli| 13,350| 3.44| 0| New| |-| bgcolor= #004a99| | align=left| Democratic Movement| 12,321| 3.18| 0| 3| |-| bgcolor= #F6741E| | align=left| Republican Party| 6,229| 1.61| 0| | |-! colspan=1| Total!! 411,847! 100.0! 50 ! colspan=2||-| colspan=7| Source: https://archiveresults.cec.gov.ge/results/20171021/proporciuli.html https://cesko.ge/res/docs/20171103113113TbilisiProporciuliShemajamebeli.pdf|}

2014

See main article: article and 2014 Georgian local elections.

Party! scope="col"
Votes%Seats+/– Government
Georgian Dream151,26946.0127New
National Movement85,85826.117 32
United Opposition34 02610.353
Alliance of Patriots20,8906.352New
Independent1
Total343,582100.040
Source: https://cesko.ge/res/old/other/28/28809.pdf

2010

See main article: article and 2010 Georgian local elections.

Party! scope="col"
Votes%Seats+/– Government
National Movement234,15052.539 5
Alliance for Georgia80,16617.975 4
Christian-Democratic Movement53,74812.053New
United National Council36,8508.262 1
Industry Will Save Georgia27,7916.231
Source: https://archiveresults.cec.gov.ge/results/2010/index.html

2006

See main article: article and 2006 Georgian local elections.

Party! scope="col" rowspan="2"
Votes%Seats+/– Government
ProportionalConstituencyTotal
National Movement204 26166.5392534 20
RPG-CPG bloc 36 97312.04101New
Labour Party32 70110.65101 14
ISWG18 6716.08101 3
The Way of Georgia8 5122.77000New
PGNI740.02000New
Total307 01510037±
Electorate/voter turnout883 80634.74
Source: https://history.cec.gov.ge/PDF/ElectoralHistoryOfGeorgia.pdf, https://old.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=13799

2002

Party! scope="col"
Votes%Seats+/– Government
Labour Party71 14525.515 3rowspan=2
National Movement66 25623.7514New
New Rights31 69511.367New
Christian Conservative Party20 2847.274New
Industry Will Save Georgia19 8987.134 New
Revival - XXI bloc17 6826.343 1
Unity11 5164.132New
Socialist Party7 9342.580 9
Union of Citizens6 7332.370 20
Total283 85510049±
Electorate/voter turnout634 25744.75
Source: https://history.cec.gov.ge/PDF/ElectoralHistoryOfGeorgia.pdf

1998

Party! scope="col"
Votes%Seats+/– Government
Union of Citizens77 28629.9420Newrowspan=2
Labour Party46 20617.9012New
Socialist Party32 68512.669New
Party of the People19 1007.404New
Democratic Union for Revival18 1167.024New
National Democratic Party171526.653New
Union of Georgian Traditionalists15 7106.093New
Athletic Georgia5 2382.030New
Merab Kostava Society4 1501.610New
Total258 09510055±
Electorate/voter turnout664 27338.85

See also

References

  1. Web site: The problem of nationalism in Georgia. Losaberidze. Joseph. June 1998. NATO Office of Information and Press. 2008-05-20.
  2. Book: Davit Losaberidze. ცენტრალური და ადგილობრივი მმართველობის სისტემა, ლეგიტიმურობა და ეფექტურობა. 11. ka.
  3. Book: Gia Nodia. საქართველო: 2006 წლის ადგილობრივი არჩევნები, დაგროვილი გამოცდილება. 2008. 14.
  4. Web site: Report on local elections in Georgia (2 June 2002) . ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. 5 July 2002.
  5. News: თბილისის საკრებულო. მისი წარსული და სამომავლო საქმიანობა. 27 September 2017. Radio Liberty. 6 June 2002.
  6. News: ლეიბორისტული პარტიის წარუმატებლობის მიზეზი . Radio Liberty. 2 April 2004.
  7. Book: Gia Nodia. საქართველო: 2006 წლის ადგილობრივი არჩევნები, დაგროვილი გამოცდილება. 2008. 15.
  8. Web site: Protocol elected municipal council members and mayors 2021. 2022-07-16 . CESKO Central Election Commission . ka.
  9. Web site: ქალაქ თბილისის მუნიციპალიტეტის საკრებულოს რეგლამენტის დამტკიცების შესახებ.

External links