At stake in this election:

• 150 seats in the Parliament (Sakartvelos Parlamenti)

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 Vano Merabishvili 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), 75 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 4-year terms and 75 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.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: United National Movement (UNM) / ერთიანი ნაციონალური მოძრაობა , Ertiani Natsionaluri Modzraoba
  • Leader: Mikheil SAAKASHVILI
  • Seats won in this election: 65
  • Seats won in last election: 130
• Coalition: Georgian Dream / ქართული ოცნება–დემოკრატიული საქართველო, k'art'uli ots'neba–demokratiuli sak'art'velo**
  • Leader: Bidzina IVANISHVILI
  • Seats won in this election: 85
  • Seats won in last election: N/A
• Party: Christian Democratic Movement (CDM) / ქრისტიანულ-დემოკრატიული მოძრაობა, k’ristianul-demokratiuli modzraoba (KDM)
  • Leader: Giorgi TARGAMADZE
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: 6

** The Georgian Dream Coalition consists of Our Georgia-Free Democrats, the Republican Party, National Forum, the Conservative Party and Industry Will Save Georgia and the Georgian Dream political party itself.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,825,000
• Registered Voters: 3,613,851 (August 2012)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,004,821 (2008)

·         Is Georgia a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Georgia ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (26 October 1994)

·         Gender Quota: Yes

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 18 (following the 2012 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 76 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)

Disability Data:

·         Is Georgia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (10 July 2009)

·         Has Georgia ratified CRPD: Yes (13 March 2014)

·         Population with a disability: 573,750 (est.)