Tbilisi, February 23, 2023 – representatives of the expert community of Georgia got acquainted with the new system of elections of Deputies to Mazhilis of Parliament and Maslikhats of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Georgia Malik Murzalin told the political scientists, researchers of leading analytical centers of Georgia, as well as journalists about modernization and transformation, political changes and economic reforms taking place in our country.

The practical implementation of the constitutional reform, supported by the citizens at the national referendum, was presented to the attention of the audience. “According to its results our country passed to new, more fair and competitive rules of formation of the legislative power”, – said the Kazakh diplomat.

Ambassador M. Murzalin informed the Georgian side in detail about the main innovations of the upcoming parliamentary elections, noting that they are a logical continuation of the political reforms initiated by the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

In turn, the participants in the discussion expressed keen interest in the bold decisions of the head of state of Kazakhstan on further political and economic modernization of the country.

According to Victor Kipiani, chairman of the analytical organization “Geocase”, the events in Kazakhstan are considered in the context of the development of the Caspian-Black Sea region as a whole. In this regard, the positive changes taking place in Kazakhstan are important for all interested parties.

The expert of the Georgian analytical center “GSAC” Gela Vasadze noted the timeliness and importance of the principle of the “Hearing State”, the focus of innovations on the development of regions and their independence. He drew attention to the important role of Kazakhstan in geopolitics, which could become a key link for the “East-West” axis.

According to the observation of professor Vakhtang Maisaia of the Caucasus International University, the level of political culture in Kazakhstan has significantly increased. The state and society have come to a political consensus. “The new geopolitical, or rather geo-economic reality, strengthens Kazakhstan’s role in the Caucasus-Caspian region. Kazakhstan is becoming a democratic hub, a regional hegemon in the dissemination of democratic values,” said the expert.

At the end of the discussion, the Georgian experts wished success to Kazakhstan, expressing confidence that the fundamental reboot of the state system will bring its tangible benefits to the population in the near future, and that economic reforms will complement the Kazakh-Georgian relations with new aspects.

Embassy of Republic of Kazakhstan in Georgia

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appeals to the international community to duly assess and take effective action on this yet another illegal step aimed at violating Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The PACE opened the winter sessions with the agenda including the Report by the Observation Mission on the Parliamentary Elections 2020 in Georgia, introduced by the Head of the Mission, Tiny Kox.

The discussion was attended by the Parliamentary Delegation of Georgia. It is noteworthy that it is a final report to be submitted to the international organizations.

As Mr. Kox stated, the elections in Georgia were competitive with the returns not subject to any doubt. He called on the Georgian opposition forces to commence the Parliamentary activity.

“As the international observers presume, the elections were competitive and the fundamental freedom was adhered to. The legislative changes in Georgia adopted in close cooperation with and by the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR and the Council of Europe facilitated in the formation of the legal frame. 48 parties were running for the election and 10 of them were elected. The ruling party did not make a clear line during the campaign with the state and the second problem is that other parties opted to boycott the Parliamentary activity. The co-rapporteurs made the statements and called on the political parties to start the Parliamentary activity. It was reasonable advice. I also would like to join the call to the dialogue”.

The Head of the Parliamentary Delegation to PACE, Kakha Kutchava stated that the ruling party is committed to cooperating with every party to ensure the improvement of the standards of the administration of the elections.

“The municipal elections are scheduled in 2021 in Georgia and our political party is committed to cooperating with every party concerned to ensure the consideration of the recommendations, introduce changes to the legislation and improve the administration of the elections”, - he noted.

He thanked the observers for arriving in Georgia to observe the electrons despite the global pandemic and stated that the Georgian Government truly strived to ensure the compliance of the elections with the international healthcare standards and recommendations.

He noted that despite the mostly positive assessments, the election process detected the gaps. He affirmed the commitment to respond to these gaps and underlined the importance of the engagement of the international partners.

“We hail the mostly positive assessments made by the international society clearly underlining that “Parliamentary Elections of October 31 were competitive and the fundamental freedoms were adhered to”.

Despite this, a series of gaps have been still detected. We appreciate the report by Mr. Kox and affirm our commitment to adequately respond to the gaps identified by his mission, including the financing of the electoral campaign, which is the subject of interest of PACE and international monitors after the Presidential Elections 2018. Engagement of our international partners in this process is very important and we expect certain recommendations”.

The opposition parties shall as well participate, he noted: “Our international partners keep calling on the Georgian opposition to start the Parliamentary activity and we hope the opposition will not reject their mandates granted to them by 800,000 electors and will move the democratic process from the streets to the Parliament as there is no evidence or the basis to put the election returns under doubt. Minor confusion was entailed from the simultaneous count of votes, which served as the main argument for the opposition, though in 1.5 months the observation mission recognized the PVT-related gaps”, - he added and responded to the statements by some speakers and underlined that unfortunately, we often deal with disinformation: “I would like to assure you that unfortunately, we often become the victims of disinformation in the XXI century. None of the candidates have been detained, especially two weeks earlier. As to the statement by the local NGOs that these were the worst elections, let me note that in 1.5 months they made the official statement about their mistake regarding the simultaneous count”.

Georgia’s major opposition parties, including the United National Movement of ex-President Saakashvili, European Georgia, Lelo, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Labor Party, hit the streets on Sunday afternoon, rejecting the preliminary results of the October 31 parliamentary vote, that forecast the Georgian Dream to form a third consecutive government.

The opposition claims the Georgian Dream “usurped power,” and rigged the elections, citing, among others, discrepancies in a number of final vote tallies. The key local election watchdogs said they identified the discrepancies in some 7 or 8% of the summary protocols. The opposition politicians argue the united opposition forces garnered more votes in total than the incumbent ruling party.

Protesting the “stolen elections,” the opposition leaders and protesters are rallying towards the hilltop residence of GD leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, after blocking Rustaveli Avenue, the main thoroughfare of the Georgian capital, outside the Parliament.

In the meantime, Gigi Ugulava of the European Georgia party, announced the opposition parties will organize a large-scale rally on November 8.

Georgia held Saturday’s parliamentary vote under a significantly modified system, which changed the composition of 150-member parliament to 120 MPs elected through proportional, party-lists, and 30 elected as majoritarians (from 77/73 ratio) and set threshold at 1% of votes. According to the results of 98.86% precincts counted, Georgian Dream garnered 48,1% of proportional votes, while the United National Movement-led Strength in Unity bloc came second with 27.12%. European Georgia scored third with 3.77%.

Preliminary results also show GD victory in 13 single-mandate constituencies, while runoffs are expected in 17 districts, including in all 8 districts of the capital city of Tbilisi.

MP Irma Inashvili, leader of Kremlin-friendly Alliance of Patriots party, that is at odds with UNM and other opposition parties, also announced that today her party rejects the results, vowing to hold separate rallies.

Source: https://civil.ge/archives/379581

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev congratulated Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia on the ruling team's victory in the 31 October Parliamentary elections.

A telephone conversation took place between Ilham Aliyev and Giorgi Gakharia.

The strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as the long-standing good-neighborly relations between the two countries were stressed during the conversation.

Press Service of the Government Administration

The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, has named the 2020 parliamentary election date – October 31.

The president addressed society: “I urge you to spend this period, these two months until election day, as peacefully as possible.” “In current circumstances, when we underwent COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to prepare very calmly for the elections.

This election has a special meaning! We will reaffirm our country’s democracy,” stressed the President. "30 years ago, on October 28, 1990, Georgia held democratic elections even then. We must continue this tradition, strengthen it, and present ourselves to the world as an extremely democratic country. We can do it!”, Said Salome Zurabishvili.

“Georgian Dream” has taken the initiative to hold the 2020 parliamentary elections under a proportional system, with zero electoral threshold. The Chairperson of the party “Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia” Bidzina Ivanishvili made the relevant announcement at the briefing today.

“I would like to remind that the ‘Georgian Dream’ was the initiator of the constitutional reform, regarding the transfer to the proportional system, as it better responds to multi-party democracy’s needs.  However, it was also decided that transition to this electoral system would be better in 2024, as it would allow strengthening of parties, more consolidation, and competitiveness. This is why we chose 2024 as the optimal term, especially given into account that the current mixed electoral system is absolutely democratic, which has been tested in many traditional democratic countries. However, life constantly brings changes and a responsible political force must adequately respond to challenges and hear the public voice. We see that society demands changes and this initiative provides grounds for such changes”, – Ivanishvili stated.

The sitting of the Political Council of the party has been held today at the Georgian Dream’s office, after which the session of the majority took place.

Conduct of proportional elections in 2020 was one of the main demands of the protest ongoing at Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi.

US Congressman Tom Marino comments on parliamentary elections in Georgia and congratulates Georgian People on democratic elections. This information was published by the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
According to the Congressman, the fact that free election was held third time in Georgia after 2012 means Georgian people’s progress in democratic way.
“I can say that forming government and the opinion of people is important in this country. This is a great progress,”-he said. 

The United States congratulates the people of Georgia for the successful completion of yesterday’s parliamentary elections, which affirm Georgia as a leader of democratic reform in the region.  We note that the OSCE election observation mission assessed both the October 8 elections and the October 30 run-offs as competitive and administered in a manner that respected the rights of candidates and voters.  Political leaders from across the spectrum played an important role in urging all their supporters to show restraint during the electoral period so that Georgian voters could freely make their own decisions.  We are concerned, however, about isolated incidents of violence and intimidation and urge accountability as well as a thorough and balanced investigation in accordance with the rule of law.  We now encourage political leaders from all parties to work together in pursuit of goals important to all Georgians, including democratic consolidation, security, and economic prosperity. We look forward to working with the new government and parliament to support Georgia’s democratic and economic development, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and its Euro-Atlantic aspirations.