No. 89: Parlamentary Elections in Georgia

No. 89: Parlamentary Elections in Georgia

Author(s): Tamar Iakobidze, Tornike Zurabashvili, Teona Turashvili
Editor(s): Tamara Brunner, Lili Di Puppo, Iris Kempe, Matthias Neumann, Jeronim Perović, Heiko Pleines, Tinatin Zurabishvili
Series: Caucasus Analytical Digest (CAD)
Issue: 89
Publisher(s): Caucasus Research Resource Centers, the Research Centre for East European Studies at the University of Bremen, the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, the German Association for East European Studies (DGO) and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University
Publication Year: 2016

In this issue of the Caucasus Analytical Digest dedicated to the parliamentary elections in Georgia on 8 and 30 October 2016, Tamar Iakobidze notes that the Georgian political party system has been marked by radical polarization between the Georgian Dream (GD) and the United National Movement (UNM) since 2012; in spite of dissatisfaction with both GD and UNM and the considerable need expressed by society, the author comes to the conclusion that a single and reliable third force is not visible to most voters. Tornike Zurabashvili discusses three possible ramifications of the elections: the resulting highly polarized parliamentary configuration will lead to significantly more intense political confrontation than in the previous four years; with no institutional checks and balances and with the absence of a clear parliamentary counterweight, the Georgian Dream—Democratic Georgia government might be tempted to abuse power; the particularly bad performance by liberal and moderately liberal third parties prompted a massive shake-up in the oppositional spectrum. Teona Turashvili focuses on the gradual decrease of popular support for Euro-Atlantic aspirations in Georgia and seeks to demonstrate that the political dimension of the anti-Western propaganda campaign appeared less successful than its cultural and social dimensions.
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