Today Georgia’s Central Election Commission released a final protocol, summarising the outcomes of the country’s October’s parliamentary elections.
The Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia gained 115 seats in the 150-member legislative body, the United National Movement-27 seats, Alliance of Patriots - 6 seats. Two remaining seats were occupied by a representative of the Industrial Party and by an independent majoritarian candidate, Salome Zurabishvili.
The newly elected Parliament of Georgia will hold a first session on November 18, the Georgian Dream representatives said.
The head of the Center for Global Studies, Nana Devdariani, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the Georgian Dream has received in the new parliament all opportunities for implementation of the election promises - and now it will not be able to explain its inaction by the confrontation with the opposition United National Movement".
Nana Devdariani expects still that there will be no rapprochement between Georgia and Russia. "Russia should not expect that the Russian-Georgian relations will be developed due to the Georgian Dream's victory - the party's orientation is not pro-Russian. The Georgian Dream declares the pro-Western course. However, the composition of the party is so diverse, that only time will tell what direction the Georgian Dream choose," the expert said.
The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, said that Georgian citizens have high expectations for the new parliament, having been disappointed in the actions of the Georgian Dream coalition in the previous years. "Despite the fact that the Georgian Dream won a majority in the Parliament, no more than 25% of the voters supported it," he pointed out in the first place.
"Above all the things they are waiting the economy growth from the parliament: the lari exchange rate towards the dollar is falling, the people are very concerned about it, as well as about a decline in employment and falling incomes. Throughout the entire country the priority is improving the economic, financial and social situation. I am not so optimistic about it. Of course, we are grateful to the Georgian Dream party that Georgia has become a stable, relatively democratic and free country, but it was necessary to do much more than it has been done," Petre Mamradze stressed.
A member of the ‘Expert Club of Georgia’ Vakhtang Maisaya believes that the parliamentary majority will allow the Georgian Dream to solve the problems accumulated in the republic. "The previous parliament was unable to make political decisions, because the Georgian Dream has no political leverage to implement planned reforms. Now the Georgian Dream has a real chance to implement those campaign objectives, which they have set. In this context, the new parliament has a better chance to implement political and economic reforms in Georgia. We will see whether it will be successful in six months," the expert concluded.
