Rustavi City Assembly

In accordance with the Code of Local Self-Government of the Organic Law of Georgia, the Sakrebulo exercises its powers to define the administrative-territorial organization of the municipality and its identity, organizational activities, determination of the personnel policy of the municipality, regulation and control of the activities of executive bodies; In the fields of municipal property management, social, amenities and household utilities, land use and natural resources use, municipal territory planning, transport and road economy, accounting, support for innovative development and informatization.[4]

The authority of the Sakrebulo in the field of administrative-territorial organization of the municipality and defining its identity includes:

• Creation and abolition of administrative units in the municipality, change of their borders
• Establishment of local self-government symbols - coat of arms, flag, and other symbols and make changes in them
• establish the rules for the introduction of honorary titles and awards of the self-governing unit and their award
• names of geographical objects, Establishing the rule of the numbering of buildings in the settlements
• Deciding on creating, joining, or leaving a non-profit (non-commercial) legal entity together with other self-governing units.
• approval of the socio-economic development strategy of the self-governing unit
• approval of measures and programs to be taken to attract investments and support innovative development in the territory of the municipality[4]

The members of the Sakrebulo are selected through a mixed electoral system. Of the 35 seats, 7 are filled through direct elections in local districts of the city. The remaining 28 members are chosen by political parties and are apportioned according to their support citywide. October 2021 counsel had 16 members from the Georgian Dream, 16 from the United National Movement and 3 from For Georgia.[5]

Rustavi was one of only seven municipalities where the ruling GD party failed to secure a majority in the city council.[6] The opposition party UNM became the largest party in Rustavi, but was two seat short of an absolute majority. After several attempts, the opposition parties UNM and For Georgia agreed to a chairman of the Sakrebulo.

The most recent city council election was held on October 2, 2021, and the results were as follows:

Party		Party list			Constituency			Total seats	+/–
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	United National Movement	19,231	38.35	14			2	16	13
	Georgian Dream	18,171	36.23	11			5	16
	For Georgia	3,732	7.44	3				3	New
	Girchi - More Freedom	1,301	2.59						New
	Lelo	1,142	2.28						New
	Alliance of Patriots of Georgia	1,110	2.21						1
	Georgian Labor Party	936	1.87						1
	New Political Center — Girchi	881	1.76						New
	For the People	805	1.61						New
	Third Power	697	1.39
	Citizens	651	1.29						New
	European Georgia	521	1.04						2
	Other parties	1,044	2.00
Invalid/blank votes
Total		52,205	100	28			7	35
Registered voters/turnout		106,895	48.83
Source: CEC

• Local government in Georgia (country)