15.09.2007 - Source: Civil Georgia

Gori: Chairman of the city council Nadiradze dismissed; replaced by member of ruling party Khmaladze; new chairman will also act as governor of the region ("Head of Gori City Council Dismissed") [ID 21171]

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13.09.2007 - Source: Civil Georgia

Shida Kartli: Governor Kareli dismissed after he failed to cooperate with Georgian authorities in a raid at local city council ("Shida Kartli Governor Dismissed") [ID 21170]

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12.09.2007 - Source: Civil Georgia

Shida Kartli: Governor Kareli and other officials prevented from entering local city council by Georgian authorities; incident follows arrest of other officials accused of misappropriation of state funds ("Arrest of Officials in Gori Sparks Anger") [ID 21168]

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27.11.2005 - Source: Civil Georgia

Protesters, led by ex-Foreign Minister, held rally to protest against draft law on local self-governance which envisages administrative-territorial division into regional municipalities throughout country and abolishment of currently operating 1100 self-governance bodies ("Demonstrators Protest Against Draft Law on Local Self-Governance") [#41966],  [ID 4557]

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02.2005 - Source: European Centre for Minority Issues

Local administration in Kvemo Kartli Region of Georgia ("Obstacles Impeding the Regional Integration of the Kvemo Kartli Region of Georgia, ECMI Working Paper #23") [#33309],  [ID 4834]

"At the rayon level and below, the administrative structure in Kvemo Kartli is, like in other parts of Georgia, a legacy of the communist period. The first layer of local government consists of locally elected bodies or sakrebulos for each of the five major towns (Gardabani, Marneuli, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Tsalka) and for villages or communities (i.e. groups of villages or temi in Georgian) in rural areas. Gardabani, Marneuli and Bolnisi have their own directly elected mayors, as do all of the main cities of rayons with a voting population of more than 5,000. As
the voting population in the towns of Dmanisi and Tsalka is less than 5,000, the head of the executive branch in these two towns is the chairperson of the sakrebulo, as specified by law.
Since the new local election law came into force in 2001, for sakrebulo elections, voters are presented with a list of candidates and the candidates obtaining the most votes are declared the victors. In most community sakrebulos, as well as in the sakrebulos of Dmanisi and Tsalka towns, five candidates are elected to the sakrebulo. In the towns of Bolnisi and Gardabani, as well as in certain larger rural communities of Marneuli, Bolnisi and Gardabani rayons, seven sakrebulo members are elected. Finally, in the city of Marneuli, with a voting population of more than 10,000, nine members are elected. In Kvemo Kartli most sakrebulos include between one and eight villages (see Appendix 1).
The role of the sakrebulo in Georgia is mainly supervisory: they have the right to amend the local budget, approve long-term development plans and they can evaluate the work of the executive bodies. They also have limited powers to impose and remove local taxes.
Real power, however, rests with the executive branch of local government, or gamgeoba, at the second level of local government, i.e. at the rayon level. The head of the rayon gamgeoba, known as the gamgebeli, is appointed by the President of Georgia from amongst the chairpersons of the town and community/village sakrebulos. Prior to the 2001 law, rayon gamgebelis were not required to be elected to a sakrebulo. The new legal stipulation that they be elected has made little difference, as in all five rayons considered in this paper the incumbent gamgebelis were able to retain their posts during the 2002 local elections by arranging to be elected to local sakrebulos. Since the “Rose Revolution” of November 2003, all the gamgebelis in the five rayons have been replaced. However, none of those appointed to replace them had been elected to a sakrebulo in June 2002. As such, their formal position is that of “acting gamgebel”’.
A third unofficial level of government was introduced by the government of Eduard Shevardnadze in 1994. These are the nine provinces or mkhare, which more or less correspond to the historical regions of Georgia and which are administered by an authorised representative or “governor” appointed by the President of Georgia. Originally the governor’s post was entirely informal and not defined by law and, although the provinces acquired legal status when a new law on administrative territorial arrangement was passed in February 1997, the competences of the governor remain poorly defined."

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