ARMENIANS MAY ARTIFICIALLY HAVE FEW REPRESENTATIVES IN SAKREBULOS OF JAVAKHK

Noyan Tapan News Agency, Armenia
Oct 3 2006

AKHALKALAK, OCTOBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Elections of
local self-government bodies will take place in Georgia on October 5.

According to the acting legislation, 10 deputies in each of regional
sakrebulos must be elected by the proportional electoral system and
one representative at each of the lowest local self-government bodies
(rural and town sakrebulos) must be elected. 32 (10+22) deputies
will be elected in the Akhalkalak region, 20 (10+10) ones in the
Ninotsminda region, 25 (10+15) in the Akhaltskha region, 22 (10+12)
in the Aspindza region, 20 (10+10) ones in the Borzhom region, 37
(10+27) deputies will be elected in the Tsalka region. The A-Info
agency states about it.

It is expected that more than 20% of deputies at the sakrebulo in
the region of Akhalkalak will be not Armenians by origin, in spite of
the circumstance that 90% of the population of the region is Armenians.

The problem is that some Armenian villages were artificially united
into one administrative unit, in a rural sakrebulo, and villages
having not numerous Georgian population are represented by separate
sakrebulos.

By the same reasoning, Armenians will make a comparatively small number
in sakrebulo of the region of Tsalka, though they make majority of
the population, A-Info states.

Owing to 98% of Armenian population in the region of Ninotsminda and
presence of sakrebulos populated only by Armenians, only Armenians
will be voted here.

In the regions of Akhaltskha, Aspindza and Borzhom as well,
though Armenians do not make majority in sakrebulos, however their
representation is again artificially limited.