Ruling party presents 150-member party list, vows to take at least 100 seats in parliament

The Georgian Dream ruling party says it will receive more than 50 per cent of votes in the October 31 parliamentary elections. Photo: Georgian Dream press office.

Agenda.ge, 01 Oct 2020 - 17:01, Tbilisi,Georgia

The Georgian Dream ruling party has presented its party list to the country’s Central Election Commission earlier today, stating that it has ‘all resources’ to take at least 100 seats in the 150-member parliament. 

The Executive Secretary of the Georgian Dream Irakli Kobakhidze says that ‘we have expectations to receive more than 50 per cent of votes’ in the October 31 elections, ‘which will allow us to have 30 majoritarian MPs and 70 MPs elected via the party-list.’ 

We will need no cooperation with other parties to form a government,” Kobakhidze said, as the party alone will be able to form a government ‘which will receive 40.54 per cent of votes in the proportional elections.’

 

Current PM Giorgi Gakharia, Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze, Irakli Kobakhidze, former Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani, MP Mamuka Mdinaradze, MP Kakhaber Kuchava, MP Giorgi Kakhiani, Mariam Kvrivishvili, Mikheil Sarjveladze and Maia Bitadze are the top ten of the 150-member party list. 

The ruling party presented its majoritarian candidates in July. 

The elections on October 31 will be held in a different manner from preceding elections, with 120 MPs elected per the party-list based electoral system and the remaining 30 per the majoritarian electoral system. 

The election bloc or party which will receive less than 40.54 per cent of votes in the proportional elections will not be able to form a government alone, without the cooperation with other political parties in parliament. 

On the day, eight years ago, the Georgian Dream coalition founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili defeated the nine-year-rule of the United National Movement. Photo: Georgian Dream press office.

The mandates in the proportional elections will be distributed among the parties, election blocs, which will receive at least one per cent of votes. 

Blocs will be allowed in the 2020 elections. However, with a different election threshold. The percentage of votes received by election blocs must at least amount to 1 percent x number of the parties in the bloc. 

Most of the polls say that the ruling party will win the elections. 

From 2024 Georgia is scheduled to transfer to a fully proportional electoral system.