GEORGIA

ELECTIONS IN 2004

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Chamber:

Sakartvelos Parlamenti

Dates of election / renewal (from/to):

28 March 2004

Purpose of elections:

Elections were held for all seats in Parliament after the Supreme Court annulled the results of the previous elections held on 2 November 2003.

Background and outcome of elections:

Georgians returned to the polls to elect a new Parliament nearly five months after the last general elections on 2 November 2003. These elections had been marked by a number of irregularities and had sparked large protests because of alleged vote rigging bringing about the resignation of then-President Eduard Shevardnadze three weeks later, on 28 March 2004. The results of those elections for representatives elected by proportional vote (150 of the 235 members of Parliament) had been annulled by the Constitutional Court.
Presidential elections were held in January 2004, when Mr. Mikhail Saakashvili was elected by a wide margin. Mr Saakashvili was catapulted to power after leading tens of thousands of supporters to oust Mr. Eduard Shevardnadze from power, in what has become known as the rose revolution, because they carried red roses, a symbol that they did not want to see any violence. Since Mr. Saakashvili took office, he promised to fight against corruption.

Fourteen parties and five alliances competed in the elections. According to political analysts, it was not clear whether any of these parties would win the minimum 7 per cent of the vote needed to enter the Parliament. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe had asked that the threshold be lowered to 4 or 5 per cent, but Georgian leaders refused.

The poll was overshadowed by a fierce dispute between President Saakashvili and the leader of the semi-autonomous Ajaria region, Mr Aslan Abashidze. On 14 March a crisis had erupted when armed men twice stopped President Saakachvili from crossing the administrative border into Adjaria from Georgia. Mr Abachidze accused Tbilissi of wanting to overthrow him. The same day Mr. Mikhail Saakachvili sent an ultimatum to the Adjarian government threatening it with an economic blockade if it continued to bar him access to its territory. The President demanded that free movement be established across all of Georgia, that people being held for political reasons in Adjarian prisons be freed and that candidates in the general elections might campaign freely in the semi-autonomous region. After three days, an agreement was finally reached and the President was able to go to Batoumi to meet with Mr. Aslan Abachidze, the latter committing himself to organising general elections on 28 March in the region.

Although it was the third nationwide election in almost as many months, across the country Georgians queued outside polling stations to cast their votes. Turnout was reported at nearly 64 per cent.

An international election observation mission, composed of some 440 observers from the OSCE, European Parliament and the Council of Europe, declared that these parliamentary elections "demonstrated commendable progress in relation to previous elections." Observers claimed that in Adjara, apparently there were fewer systematic irregularities, although isolated incidents had been reported, including cases of multiple voting and ballot stuffing, as well as suspiciously high turnout figures.

According to the final results, only two parties secured seats in the new Parliament: President Saakashvili's National Movement-Democrats, which received 66,24 per cent of votes (135 of the 150 seats at stake) and the Rightist Opposition - New Rights-Industrialists, which obtained 7,96 per cent of the votes and 15 seats.

On 22 April 2004, Parliament held its first sitting and re-elected Mrs. Nino Burjanadze as its Speaker.

STATISTICS


Round no 1 (28 March 2004): Election results
Number of registered electors		2'343'087
Voters		1'498'012 (63.93%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers		33'329
Valid votes		1'464'683



Round no 1: Distribution of votes

Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
National Movement-Democrats		992'275	67.75
Right Opposition		113'313	7.74
Labour Party of Georgia		89'981	6.14
Revival Union		57'829	3.95

Round no 1: Distribution of seats

Political Group

Total

National Movement-Democrats

135

Right Opposition

Labour Party of Georgia

Revival Union

Comments:

The Right Opposition comprises two opposition parties:
- the New Rights
- the Industry will Save Georgia.
The new Parliament also includes 85 members elected from single-member constituencies, in the November 2003 elections, whose elections was deemed valid by the Supreme Court and were therefore not required to face re-election.

Distribution of seats according to sex:

Men:

213

Women:

Percent of women:

9.36

Distribution of seats according to age:

Distribution of seats according to profession:

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