Hazar Raporu - Issue 02 - Winter 2012

groups, and the modest ambitions of third
parties such as the Christian Democrats,
New Rights, Labor and to overcome the
5% barrier were shattered. 6
While the results were still coming in,
President Mikheil Saakashvili performed
a political maneuver unusual in the
post-Soviet sphere, conceding his party’s
defeat and announcing a new government
to be formed by the new parliamentary
majority. In the aftermath of the election
defeat, Saakashvili stated that although
the ideas and goals of the Georgian Dream
absolutely unacceptable to his party, he
respects the choice that the Georgian
people have made. He indicated that he
wants to ensure that all the achievements
of the Rose Revolution shall be protected,
and that nothing hinders the development
of the country. As Saakashvili conceded
defeat, international observers
acknowledged that the Georgian elections
had been genuinely competitive, with
active citizen participation throughout the
campaign. Many Georgia-watchers also
noted that civil society and NGOs had
played a key role by serving as advocates
for and monitors of a credible process, and
by shedding light on concerns about the
fairness of the pre-election environment.
However, while praising the election
environment, the OSCE/ODIHR
election observation mission’s preliminary
assessment still highlighted that “the
campaign environment was polarized and
6 Georgia has a mixed system in which 73 lawmakers out of
150 are elected in 73 majoritarian, single-mandate constituencies
and the remaining 77 seats are allocated proportionally
under the party-list contest among political parties and election
blocs that clear the 5% threshold.
tense, with some instances of violence. 7 ”
The observers also underscored that
the campaign often centered on the
advantages of incumbency on the one
hand, and private financial assets on the
other, rather than on concrete political
platforms and programs. Nevertheless,
many observers has indicated that Georgia
has successfully passed what many
considered to be its democratic litmus test
by holding elections in which the outcome
cannot be determined in advance.
In the various analyses of UNM’s defeat,
a number of issues have been raised 8 .
Niklas Nillson and Svante Cornell have
identified two major reasons: 1) “the
ruling party has been in power for nine
consecutive years, and a large part of the
Georgian population ostensibly developed
a certain fatigue, making many willing to
consider a credible alternative. President
Saakashvili’s often non-deliberative style
of governance may have contributed to
this trend, and 2) while the UNM’s time
in government has provided for significant
improvements to Georgian state functions
as well as important aspects of the
country’s economy, this progress has
failed to translate into jobs and improved
living standards for large parts of the
population – unemployment and poverty
7 OSCE Press Release. Georgia takes important step in
consolidating conduct of democratic elections, but some key
issues remain, election observers say. Available at: http://www.
osce.org/odihr/elections/94597
8 See: Nicu Popescu. Why Saakashvili Lost EU Observer.
Available at: http://blogs.euobserver.com/popescu/2012/10/02/why-saakashvili-lost/
and Georgia Online.
Gela Vasadze: Georgians are tired of reforms and of paying,
October 22, 2012 Available at: taxeshttp://georgiaonline.ge/
interviews/1350951592.php
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