Election Snapshot

Elections in Georgia: 2024 Parliamentary Elections

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On Saturday, October 26, Georgia will hold parliamentary elections. These elections take place amidst a defining period for Georgian democracy and within a new electoral framework that utilizes election technologies and introduces a fully proportional system. 

Ahead of this important electoral process, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) provides Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Elections in Georgia: 2024 Parliamentary Elections. 

Learn more about IFES's work in Europe and Eurasia and follow @IFES_Europe and @IFES1987 on Twitter. 

Additionally, visit IFES's Election Guide for the most comprehensive and timely verified election information available online. 

For more information and details, please find the full FAQs in PDF format. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Georgia is scheduled to hold its parliamentary election on October 26, 2024. Voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.  

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The October 26 parliamentary elections are taking place at a critical time, when Georgia has reached a crossroads in its democratic progression. The elections were preceded by a series of defining opportunities and challenges to Georgia’s democracy in the past year. In December 2023, Georgia was granted conditional European Union member candidate status, a significant step toward the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration. However, since then the Georgian Parliament has passed a series of contentious laws, all proposed by the ruling Georgia Dream party. Legislative efforts have included the repeal of the electoral gender quota and the passage of the Law on Family Values (which restricts LGBTQI+ rights and protections) and the Law on Foreign Influence, also referred to as the Foreign Agents’ Law. The passage of the Foreign Agents’ Law spurred mass protests in Georgia and was widely criticized as an attack on civil society due to its requirement that any media or non-governmental entity register as an agent of foreign influence if it receives more than 20 percent of its funding from international actors. Given these developments, the upcoming election is seen as a critical opportunity for Georgians to reinforce democratic values by casting votes and determining their country’s direction – either continuing along a western, European vector or reverting to a Moscow-centric orientation.  

Notwithstanding a contentious political environment, this election also introduces a fully proportional electoral system. It will be the first nationwide vote that uses electronic voter identification devices and optical ballot scanners at polling stations and transmits preliminary results from optical scan boxes to the Central Election Commission via special tablets at precinct election commissions. In this election, an estimated 90 percent of voters will cast their votes at polling stations with the new technologies.

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Georgian citizens will cast ballots for members of the Georgian Parliament, who will be seated for four-year terms. There are 18 political parties registered to participate in the election. 

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The 150 members of Parliament (MPs) are elected to four-year terms under a full proportional representation system. Under this system, political parties present a ranked list of candidates, and seats in Parliament are allocated to parties in proportion to the share of votes they receive. This ensures that the number of seats that a party gains reflects its overall level of support among voters. Voters cast ballots for a party, and candidates are elected in the order in which they appear on party lists. Under closed party list system, voters are unable to cast votes in support of individual candidates. The electoral threshold for parties to enter Parliament is set at 5 percent.  

The 2024 election will be the first time that Georgia will use the fully proportional system. The previous election, in October 2020, took place under a mixed parallel system. 

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Five documents provide the legal framework for the Georgian parliamentary elections:   

  • The Constitution of Georgia 

  • The Election Code of Georgia 

  • The Law on Political Unions of Citizens 

  • Central Election Commission Regulations 

  • The Code of Administrative Offenses of Georgia 

  • The Criminal Code of Georgia   

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Any Georgian citizen who is at least 25 years of age and has lived in Georgia for a minimum of 10 years is eligible to be elected as a Member of Parliament. Parties were required to submit party lists to the Central Election Commission by September 26. The number of signatures required for previously unregistered political parties to register official candidate lists is 25,000.

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The Central Election Commission (CEC) is Georgia’s supreme election management body. It ensures the preparation and conduct of presidential, parliamentary, and municipal elections, as well as referendums and plebiscites. The CEC also manages and maintains voter lists, voter registration, campaign lists, campaign registration, and verification of relevant documentation and requirements, among other duties. For the 2024 parliamentary elections, the CEC will manage the upcoming elections in tandem with 73 district electoral commissions and 3,111 precinct electoral commissions. 

The CEC is headquartered in Tbilisi. The CEC currently comprises 17 members. Parliament appoints eight members to five-year terms based on their professional backgrounds and experience. The remaining nine members are appointed by parties that were registered by the CEC chair, either independently or through an electoral bloc granted by the parliamentary elections. The CEC chair is appointed through nomination by the speaker of Parliament, and CEC members elect the deputy chair. A complete guide to the structure of the CEC can be found on the CEC’s website. 

The October 2024 elections will take place following substantial reforms to Georgia’s Election Code that were introduced earlier in the year, including altered procedures for selecting the CEC chair and members and removal of the deputy chair position, previously intended for opposition representation. The new procedure mandates that the speaker of Parliament, rather than the president, nominates candidates to the CEC. Approval requires a three-fifths majority (90 votes) on the first vote. If that is unsuccessful, a simple majority (76 votes) can elect candidates on subsequent attempts, with a maximum of two tries before the president gains appointment authority.

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All Georgian citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote in the upcoming elections, with some exceptions. Voter eligibility is restricted for Georgian citizens who currently serve prison sentences of up to three years for crimes more severe than misdemeanors and who are placed at inpatient psychiatric facilities under the Law of Georgia on Psychiatric Assistance. A voter’s registration status can be verified on the Central Election Commission website. Citizens must provide valid identification that shows official registry in the district in which they will vote. 

As of October 16, 2024, there are 3,508,294 registered voters. 

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The Central Election Commission (CEC) will share election results no later than November 21.  The CEC will publish the results of the election on its website and will submit the results to designated media outlets two days after it announces the elected Members of Parliament and summarizes the results.

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The Election Code requires all complaints of electoral violations to be recorded in a logbook at each precinct election commission (PEC) on Election Day and delivered to the PEC chairperson, who should respond immediately to the complaint. If the PEC chairperson refuses to respond to a given complaint or does not do so to the satisfaction of the complainant, the complainant has the right to appeal to the relevant district election commission (DEC). PECs should resolve registered polling complaints immediately, while complaints related to the vote counting process are to be forwarded to DECs within three days. The application or complaint must be addressed within four days of registration at the DEC level. DEC-level decisions may be appealed to the relevant court or to the CEC. The court’s decision may be appealed within one day of its delivery to the Court of Appeals. All decisions by the Court of Appeals are final. 

BY THE NUMBERS
3,508,294
REGISTERED VOTERS
3,171
POLLING STATIONS
150
SEATS

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The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) has operated in Georgia since 1995, conducting a range of assistance activities to support the development of democratic elections and political processes. IFES currently implements a five-year United States Agency for International Development–funded project, Georgia Elections and Political Processes Support, as a member of the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS). Under CEPPS, IFES has improved electoral legislation and election administration, propelled discussions on constitutional and election legislative reform, strengthened the capacity of civil society and the media, supported political finance reform and implementation of regulations, increased the participation and enfranchisement of marginalized groups, and introduced the Democracy and Citizenship civic education course. Under a one-year UK Foreign Commonwealth Development Office–funded project, IFES also implements the Building the Capacity of Civil Society to Mitigate Election Crises program, which seeks to strengthen the resilience of Georgia civil society against electoral crises.  

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These FAQs reflect decisions made by the Georgian elections authorities as of publication to the best of our knowledge. This document does not represent any IFES policy or technical recommendations.  

This document is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The information herein is provided by the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.