Introduction

Transparency International Georgia has evaluated the performance of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Council of the 2021 convocation. The report is based on information requested from the City Council and that posted on the City Council’s official website, as well as on the observations of our organization. The study covers the period from November 2021 to May 2025.

Transparency International Georgia has evaluated the performance of the Akhaltsikhe City Council twice, with reporting periods including 2021-2022, and the year 2023.

Chapter 1. Key Findings

• During the reporting period, the Akhaltsikhe City Council exercised weak oversight of the Akhaltsikhe City Hall and the legal entities established by it. Oversight of officials and individual agencies accountable to the City Council was merely formal.
• The Akhaltsikhe City Council significantly worsened its practice of providing public information. The City Council did not provide us with the minutes from the City Council meetings, expenditures for 2024-2025, speeches from city council members, as well as information about summonses for the mayor and other officials to the City Council, and questions or proposals they sent to the City Hall in writing.
• The Akhaltsikhe City Council did not reveal any cases of incompatibility with public office, violations of the City Council rules of procedure, ethics norms, or conflicts of interest. Since December 2021, Akhaltsikhe City Council members, their family members and relatives received a total of GEL 24,811,129 from the Akhaltsikhe City Hall and its legal entities alone.
• Out of the 22 City Council officials, 17 are Georgian Dream party representatives. Monitoring of their asset declarations reveals that six officials’ family members were involved in the 2024 electoral process in various ways.
• During the reporting period, the Akhaltsikhe City Council held 50 sessions.
• Out of the 39 City Council members, six opposition members did not submit annual reports. 11 members wrote that, with their involvement, a total of 116 problems were solved within three years. However, some of these problems overlap, and some fall under projects implemented within the framework of the Rural Support Program.
• None of the three factions operating in the City Council submitted an initiative. Within two years, GEL 678,048 was allocated from the budget for the factions’ activities. The City Council did not provide us with information about expenditures for 2024-2025.
• The Akhaltsikhe City Council abolished the Gender Equality Council on May 30, 2025, without the Council having conducted either an analysis of legal acts or an expertise on draft legislative acts. A Municipal Council on Women and Children’s Issues was established instead.
• The Akhaltsikhe City Council fulfilled one of the two petitions submitted by Transparency International Georgia, but did not register the other.
• From December 2021 to 2023, the City Council’s expenditures amounted to GEL 2,276,392. 89% of this amount was spent on salaries, supplements and awards. The City Council did not provide us with information about expenditures for 2024-2025.
• From December 2021 to 2023, the City Council consumed 66,835 liters of fuel, totaling GEL 198,889. Of this, more than 20 tons was consumed by the City Council Chairperson and three Deputy Chairpersons. The City Council did not provide us with information about expenditures for 2024-2025.

Chapter 2. General Information about the Akhaltsikhe City Council

The Akhaltsikhe City Council has 39 members.

• The Akhaltsikhe City Council mandates were distributed as follows: Georgian Dream members - 28 mandates, Gakharia for Georgia members – 2 mandates, European Georgia members – 1 mandate, the United National Movement (UNM) members – 8 mandates. The latter, however, quit the party at different times.
• Out of the 39 Akhaltsikhe City Council members, 22 held official positions.
• There were 11 women on the City Council and only five held official positions.
• During the reporting period, the Akhaltsikhe City Council held 50 sessions, with four of them being extraordinary.
• The Akhaltsikhe City Council approved a total of 123 resolutions. Of these, more than a half were authored by the Akhaltsikhe Municipality Mayor.
• During the Akhaltsikhe City Council’s tenure, five commissions were established, which held a total of 137 sessions throughout the reporting period and submitted 304 draft legal acts to the City Council. The commissions also prepared 305 conclusions on the compliance of the drafts to be discussed by the City Council with the law.
• There were three factions working in the Akhaltsikhe City Council: Besik Bliadze, the chairman of the Georgian Dream faction, had seven deputies; Davit Akhalkatsi, the chairman of the Independent Deputies had two deputies; and Giorgi Giorgadze, the chairman of Akhaltsikhe for Georgia had one deputy.
• The City Council completed its work without any initiative from the factions.
• Given the minimal activity of the factions, the expenses incurred for their operation were disproportionately high. In just two years, GEL 678,048 was spent from the budget for the factions’ operations. The City Council did not provide us with information about the expenditures for 2024-2025.
• The Akhaltsikhe City Council never provided complete information about City Council members’ absences from sessions. From 2023 to June 10, 2025, 29 City Council members had 235 absences from 32 sessions. Only 12 of these absences were for valid reasons. We have no information about the attendance of the remaining members or the 18 sessions held in 2021-2022.
• During the reporting period, the Akhaltsikhe City Council approved six transactions, the value of which exceeded 5% of the municipal budget payments.

Chapter 3. Gratuitous Transfer of Property to the State

The Akhaltsikhe City Council transferred the following to the state free of charge:

• A plot of non-agricultural land in the village of Chacharaki intended for the construction of a school.
• Plots of non-agricultural land and the outpatient clinic buildings located on them in 22 villages.
• A plot of non-agricultural land and a building located on it in the village of Tskruti.
• Two buildings/apartments located on a plot of non-agricultural land divided into nine areas on Shota Rustaveli Street No. 125 in the city of Akhaltsikhe.
• A plot of non-agricultural land and a building located on it in the village of Atskuri.
• Non-agricultural land areas (320 sq.m. in the village of Atskuri and 5,264 sq.m. in Vale on Stalin Street 18) - for the N(N)LE Construction College ‘Constructor 2’.
• House of Rituals in Akhaltsikhe on Kharischirashvili Street, 1, with usufruct for the Public Service Hall.
• Room N13 on the sixth floor of 6 Ketskhoveli Steet, Akhaltsikhe.

Chapter 4. Oversight of Bodies Accountable to the City Council

• The Akhaltsikhe City Council positively assessed all reports submitted by the mayor, city council chairperson, and individual legal entities.
• From December 3, 2021 to June 10, 2025, the Akhaltsikhe City Council amended the budget 21 times. The Mayor of Akhaltsikhe City Hall initiated all amendments.
• Over the past four years, the City Council has never provided us with information on the following: (1) How many times the City Council, a faction within the City Council, or a commission invited City Hall representatives to discuss a particular issue; (2) How many City Council members asked the accountable body, the Mayor, or other officials questions and on what issues. Also, who was the recipient of the most questions; (3) How many times City Council members exercised their right to speak at City Council sessions.

During the reporting period, the City Council did not identify any misconduct in the mayor's activities or conflicts of interest in the public procurement process. However, Transparency International Georgia's research and the Audit Service’s conclusions show the opposite.

• Since December 2021, Akhaltsikhe City Council members, their family members and relatives have received a total of GEL 24,811,129 from Akhaltsikhe City Hall and its legal entities alone.
• The company of Tariel Talakhadze, son of Nodar Talakhadze, chairman of the Infrastructure Commission and member of the Tender Commission, received GEL 13,023,982.
• The company of the daughter-in-law^[1] of Zoia Baliashvili, the chairperson of the Property Management Commission and the deputy chairperson of the Acceptance and Delivery Commission, received GEL 10,455,585. Zoia Baliashvili’s son, Koba Baliashvili, received GEL 62,983.
• The company of Zaza Melikidze, a city council member, received GEL 194,876. The company of his wife's brother, Khvicha Alavidze, received GEL 193,966. The son of Zaza Melikidze's cousin, Lasha Tedoradze^[2], received GEL 408,724 in a year and a half, from October 2023 to July 2025. Of this amount, GEL 345,987 (84.65%) was received through direct procurement contracts and uncontested tenders. Lasha Tedoradze is also the son-in-law of Nana Beridze, the deputy director of the Akhaltsikhe Preschool Education Institutions Association. Nana Beridze's sister, Eka Beridze, is a representative of the Akhaltsikhe City Council’s press service.
• The companies of Gela Chalidze, a city council member, received GEL 300,973.
•  According to the conclusion of the State Audit Office, in 2022, “the municipality did not comply with the legislation when purchasing construction works under three simplified procedures and reimbursed GEL 135.1 thousand to suppliers without calculating and confirming actual costs. This creates a risk of overpayment of budget funds.” Akhaltsikhe Mayor Irakli Lazarashvili made one of three purchases for GEL 44,095 to his friend and brother of his personal driver, Giorgi Kapanadze. Kapanadze received another direct procurement contract from Akhaltsikhe City Hall worth GEL 20,631. 

Chapter 5. Asset Declarations

• During the reporting period, 12 out of 22 public officials submitted asset declarations containing various violations.
• Monitoring of the 2025 asset declarations revealed that the family members of six out of 17 Georgian Dream City Council officials - Davit Lomidze, Davit Tabatadze, Davit Samsonidze, Ambartsum Baboyan, Zurab Bardzimadze, and Ioseb Kapanadze - were involved in the 2024 parliamentary elections in various ways, both in election commissions and in the activities of the Georgian Dream campaign headquarters.

Chapter 6. Citizen Engagement in the City Council’s Activities

According to the letter from the City Council, its sessions are announced on the council’s Facebook page and on the information board. However, none of the 50 sessions held during the reporting period were announced a week in advance, as required by law. Of these sessions, the announcements for 28 sessions were published the day before.

• Two petitions were registered with the City Council of the 2021 convocation, both authored by Transparency International Georgia.
• The first petition, signed by 360 locals on April 13, 2022, requested “the dismantling of the N4 preschool institution located at 12 Iadze Street in Akhaltsikhe and the construction of a new one.” The new kindergarten has already been built.
• The second petition, signed by 400 locals on December 7, 2023, requesting “the allocation of space (in the form of usufruct) for non-governmental organizations working on the needs of persons with disabilities in the city of Akhaltsikhe”, was not registered. The City Council explained that “the resolution of the issue envisaged by the petition does not fall within the jurisdiction of the municipality.”  However, on October 9, 2025, a 355-square-meter building located at 124 Rustaveli Street was transferred to the N(N)LE St. Grigol Khandzteli Theological Seminary of the Patriarchate of Georgia in the form of usufruct.
• In 2022-2024, 32 city council members submitted reports in the form established by the City Council. None of the six members of the Independent Deputies faction submitted a report.
• In 2022-2024, Akhaltsikhe City Council members held a total of 675 meetings with citizens. However, the City Council failed to provide us with the minutes from these meetings.
• According to information provided by the City Council, 116 issues were resolved with the direct involvement of City Council members in 2022-2024. Out of the 35 issues resolved in 2023, 15 overlapped. Out of the 66 issues resolved in 2024, 15 were projects implemented within the framework of the Rural Support Program. In the column on specific problems resolved with his involvement, Nodar Khitarishvili indicates that he provided citizens with information about the provision of motoblocks.

Chapter 7. Expenditures of the Akhaltsikhe City Council

We do not have a complete list of the expenditures of the Akhaltsikhe City Council of the 2021 convocation. From January 2024 to June 10, 2025, the City Council did not provide us with information on how it spent the budget.

• From December 2021 to 2023, the council's expenditures totaled GEL 2,276,392, 88.9% (GEL 2,025,298) of which was spent on salaries, supplements and awards.
• During the same period, the City Council consumed 66,835 liters of fuel, costing GEL 198,889. Of this fuel, 20,878 liters, worth GEL 62,563, were consumed by the City Council Chairperson and three Deputy Chairpersons.
• The two vehicles allocated to the Akhaltsikhe City Council were used by the City Council Chairman, Davit Lomidze (TOYOTA - LAND CRUISER PRADO 2008) and the First Deputy Chairman, Davit Tabatadze (RENAULT DUSTER 2018).

Recommendations

Today, when Georgia is experiencing a total decline in democratic standards, political polarization, and a severe weakening of the role of self-governments, which is clearly visible in the local self-government system, it is necessary to correct the systemic shortcomings at the legislative level and then implement them in practice in order to solve the problems existing in the Akhaltsikhe City Council and the entire municipal system.

This requires: 

• To establish a legislative framework that ensures the independence of municipalities and their representative bodies - city councils.
• To strengthen mechanisms of balance, mutual oversight, and transparency at the local level.
• The City Council should be given formal and real levers to oversee and hold accountable the executive branch of government - City Hall.
• The City Council’s independence should be protected and guaranteed by legislation so that it can fully and effectively control the policies and administrative processes implemented by City Hall, free from political pressure or formal frameworks.
• Also, unlike previous years, the Akhaltsikhe City Council did not provide us with any information about the expenses incurred in 2024-2025. Providing public information is important because it ensures the transparency of the government, increases citizens' trust, and enables the public to control budget spending and the decision-making process, which is completely violated in the case of the Akhaltsikhe Municipality City Council.

The aforementioned transformations will only be possible if a democratically elected parliament, which is based on pluralistic values, creates legislation that is not aimed at protecting narrow party interests, but rather establishes citizen-oriented local self-government - transparent, accountable, and truly effective.