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Georgia: a year of complete political reset

In 2024, Georgia will face a complete political reset. On October 26, the country will hold parliamentary elections, after which constitutional changes relating to presidential elections will come into force. Now, the president will be elected in parliament. Therefore, Salome Zurabishvili’s presidency was longer than it could have been – not five, but six years. This was necessary so the new parliament would have the power to elect the president. Another feature of the parliamentary elections: for the first time, they will be held on a purely proportional basis and not mixed, as was the case before. It must be said that for any party in power in the post-Soviet space, abandoning the “majority” is a severe challenge. If we take Georgia, then in the parliamentary elections of 2020, the currently ruling Georgian Dream party did not receive a majority under the proportional system, but without any problems, “gained” the required number of mandates at the expense of the “majoritarians”, where it had 100% success.

Therefore, when on December 30, 2023, the informal leader of Georgia, the “founding father” and “father-maintainer” of the “Georgian Dream” Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced his subsequent return to big politics, it became clear that Georgia had entered a period of political turbulence and fierce election struggle.

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In 2024, Georgia will face a complete political reset. On October 26, the country will hold parliamentary elections, after which constitutional changes relating to presidential elections will come into force. Now, the president will be elected in parliament. Therefore, Salome Zurabishvili’s presidency was longer than it could have been – not five, but six years. This was necessary so the new parliament would have the power to elect the president. Another feature of the parliamentary elections: for the first time, they will be held on a purely proportional basis and not mixed, as was the case before. It must be said that for any party in power in the post-Soviet space, abandoning the “majority” is a severe challenge. If we take Georgia, then in the parliamentary elections of 2020, the currently ruling Georgian Dream party did not receive a majority under the proportional system, but without any problems, “gained” the required number of mandates at the expense of the “majoritarians”, where it had 100% success.

Therefore, when on December 30, 2023, the informal leader of Georgia, the “founding father” and “father-maintainer” of the “Georgian Dream” Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced his subsequent return to big politics, it became clear that Georgia had entered a period of political turbulence and fierce election struggle.

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Please subscribe to unlock this content. Enter your email to get access.
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