Foreign Affairs: “Georgia’s Electoral Unknowns”

Georgia is about to make history by hosting the most free, fair and transparent democratic elections in the history of independent Georgia.

In a piece for Foreign Affairs magazine, Michael Cecire takes a deep look into Georgia’s electoral environment and the parties competing in the October 8 Parliamentary Elections.

"Georgia’s elections look set to be a largely smooth affair and a success story for the wider region,” he says.

When Georgians go to the polls for parliamentary elections on October 8, they will have the luxury of choosing between candidates and parties that represent a real array of ideologies and visions: liberals, conservatives, Westernizers, Russia accommodationists, free traders, economic protectionists, and just about everything in between. For regional watchers, this is no small thing; Georgian politics have long been bruising and personality-driven, which makes the relative normalcy of this year’s multiparty contest all the more striking, he says.

In a region that seems locked in cycles of authoritarianism and tumult (or both), the peaceful clash of competing policy platforms is a welcome sight. Indeed, compared to nearby Azerbaijan and Russia, which recently held their own deeply flawed polls, Georgia’s election season appears positively European—a standard that has also eluded neighbors Armenia and Turkey in recent years.”

Cecire notes Georgia’s democracy remains young and fragile, and the possibility for unrest and even violence is never out of the question, but Georgians can reasonably expect that their parties will be able to compete fairly, win or lose on their own terms, and live to fight another day.

"Still, despite ruinous political clashes and the shadow of Russia lurking in the background, Georgia’s elections look set to be a largely smooth affair and a success story for the wider region. Perhaps more to Georgia’s credit, neither the United States nor Europe can claim to be much of a steadying influence.”

With NATO or EU membership still decidedly unlikely, Georgians are marching forward almost exclusively on their own. This speaks to the surprising durability of the young democracy Georgians have created. However, the West should do more to consolidate and expand Georgia’s gains by restoring and expanding incentives for Euro-Atlantic integration—and there would be no better opportunity than in the aftermath of another successful, democratic national election

Read the full article here: www.foreignaffairs.com