Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Georgia's Former Speaker Nino Burjanadze's representatives submitted signatures of her supporters to the Central Election Commission (CEC) on September 10. Instead of the required 26,350 signatures, Burjanadze collected 80,000 signatures.

Burjanadze's representatives announced that that if the Georgian authorities ensure fair elections, then the ex-speaker will have no rivals in the presidential election.

On September 7, Georgia's CEC has completed the receipt of applications from those seeking to stand in the presidential election to be held in October.

According to the CEC, 54 candidates have submitted documents, including 12 nominees from political parties and 42 from initiative groups. Six candidates have been denied registration as presidential candidates -- three of them because of problems in the documentation and three others because of dual citizenship. Thus, the Georgian electoral body rejected the request of Salome Zourabichvili, a French-born Georgian politician and a former Foreign Minister.

Within ten days all the candidates who have applied to the CEC must submit 26,530 signatures of their supporters. Afterwards, from September 17, a special commission operating under the CEC will verify the signatures and all documents of the candidates. On September 27, the CEC will officially announce the candidates and submit all of the included names in a newsletter.

Six candidates have been registered for the presidency: the ruling Georgian Dream representative Giorgi Margvelashvili, Labor Party candidate Shalva Natelashvili, Justice for Georgia party's representative Sergo Javakhidze, as well as Nestan Kirtadze, Giorgi Liluashvili and Mikheil Saluashvili.

Nino Burjanadze and candidate from Georgia's former ruling United National Movement, former parliament chairman Davit Bakradze have not been officially registered yet.

According to the CEC, there are 3.5 million voters in Georgia, a South Caucasus republic with a population of about 4.7 million.

According to experts, the main rivalry at the polls will be between Giorgi Margvelashvili, Nino Burjanadze and Davit Bakradze.

The 2013 presidential election in Georgia is scheduled for October. This will be the 6th presidential election after the republic'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.