Presidential elections to become test for new Georgian authorities - speaker
TBILISI. July 15 (Interfax) - Presidential nominee of the ruling party Georgian Dream Giorgi Margvelashvili will begin his election campaign in the coming days, Georgian Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili told reporters on Monday.
"It can be said that the election campaign has already begun in Georgia," Usupashvili said.
Margvelashvili "will fully go ahead with this process in the coming days," Usupashvili said.
The presidential elections to be held in Georgia in October will be a serious test for the country's new authorities and the ruling coalition Georgian Dream, he said.
Usupashvili said he hoped that the presidential elections would be "a primeexample of clean and fair elections."
At the same time, according to the information of the Georgian Central Election Committee, six initiative groups and two political parties have already applied to participate in the elections. The Central Election Committee said that the last day to submit the application for the election was September 7. The applicants have to submit the necessary number of signatures, over 26,000, before September 17, 2013.