Parliament Elections of October 31, 2020 and Escalation of Political Situation in Georgia

Abstract

Elections are the significant  part of the democratic order of a government. Realization of  the  voting rights  by citizens is one of the main forms of their participation in the governance of the state, because the representative bodies should  appear to express the state will of the people.

 2020 was the year of  Parliament elections. The election campaign was ca­rried out on a large scale . Each  party or block did  their best  efforts to gain the su­­pport of a significant part  of the electorate and to gain  success  in the election marathon.

According to the summarizing protocol of the Parliament Elections  of Oc­to­ber 31, 2020, which has been published  by the CEC on December 3 of the same year,   nine political subjects entered the Parliament.

The most of the seats -  90 seats (60 by proportional and 30 by majoritarian order) was won by  the  party – „Georgian Dream“. The remaining seats were dis­tri­bu­ted among 8 political unions. Among them, the largest number - 36 seats, was won by the party „National Movement“. The political situation became very tense after the Parliamentary elections. Opposition parties have blamed the government for pursuing anti-democratic policies and they  made attempts  to justify their  relationship  only by actions through street protests.

Regardless of the fact that the USA and the EU recognized the elections as legitimate, there could not be reached a consensus between the government and the opposition. The political process in the country became unmanageable and it appeared in the focus of the EU. The European Union took on the role of mediator in this situation and sent   their mission to Georgia  in order  to defuse tensions between the parties. After long term negotiations, a compromise agreement was reached between the two opposing parties and, as a result, an official document was signed.