Ex-speaker Bakradze wins third round of election primaries in Georgia
By Nazrin Gadimova
Leader of the parliamentary minority and former speaker of the Georgian parliament Davit Bakradze won the third round of the election primaries at President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), which was held in Kakheti on July 14.
Bakradze is followed by Giorgi Baramidze, Zurab Japaridze and Shota Malashkhia.
This time about 200 delegates came together from the region of Kakheti and Shida Kartli in Telavi.
The presidential candidate from UNM will be finally determined on July 28. In total, five more party conferences will be held in different regions of the country. The last conference will be held in the capital Tbilisi.
Another presidential candidate, the leader of the Democratic Movement Nino Burjanadze, said at the opening of her campaign headquarters in Tbilisi that she is confident of her victory.
According to Burjanadze, a public opinion poll conducted by her party shows that she will win the elections.
However, she said that she treats with understanding the statement of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili that the candidate of Georgian Dream Giorgi Margvelashvili is beyond comparison. Burjanadze does not rule out that in case of a run-off the voters will have to choose between her and Margvelashvili and if the elections are fair, she is sure to win.
According to Burjanadze, her victory is needed to restore the balance of political forces and to put an end to the dominance of a single party in Georgia.
The 2013 presidential election in Georgia is scheduled for October. This will be the 6th presidential election after the country's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The last one, held on January 5, 2008, resulted in the election of Mikheil Saakashvili for his second and final presidential term. According to the constitution, Saakashvili cannot run for a third consecutive term.
Upon the inauguration of a new president in 2013, a series of constitutional amendments passed in the parliament of Georgia from 2010 to 2013 will go into effect. The amendments envisage significant reduction of the President's powers in favor of the Prime Minister.