IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Georgia

Country Profile:

Overview

Elections

News

Links

Region

Upcoming Elections

Presidential
October 2013

Georgia
Georgia
Region: Europe

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: President Mikheil SAAKASHVILI
Head of Government: President Mikhail SAAKASHVILI **
Assembly: Georgia has a unicameral Parliament (Sakartvelos Parlamenti) with 150 seats.

** The President is head of government with respect to internal affairs and defense ministries. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is head of government with respect to all other ministries.

Description of electoral system:

The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 5-year term.
In the Parliament (Sakartvelos Parlamenti), 77 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 73 members are elected by majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*** If no candidate secures 30 per cent of the valid vote in a single-member constituency, a run-off election is held between the two leading candidates. The threshold is 5 percent in the PR tier. If no party, bloc, or pre-election coalition achieves 5 percent of votes, new elections are held. Voting is not compulsory.