Preliminary results are in

The central election commission has finished calculation of the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections of October 1. The parliament consists of two parties. The majority is comprised of the Georgian Dream and United National Movement is in the minority. However, it does hold the president post, main positions in the local self governance, as well as controls certain media outlets like countrywide broadcasters Rustavi 2 and Imedi TV. The parliamentary majority is working on the issue of forming a government in 1 week's time. Presumably the first parliamentary session will be held and will confirm the results of the elections. There are still controversies about some majoritarian candidates and due to the violations, court cases must be finished by the end of this week and then the final results will be available. So far the votes have been calculated in 3,766 precincts including 70 special polling stations. Results of 8 precincts are in question by the data of October 5.

Bidzina Ivanishvili Georgian Dream Coalition received 1, 184, 588 votes which is 54% of the participating voters. UNM received 872, 336 votes, it is 40.4 % of the voters. It means that the GD coalition received 311, 392 votes more than the UNM did. The rest of the votes went to the political entities that did not overcome the 5% barrier. The biggest amount of votes was received by the Christian Democratic Movement 2.5%. Labor party received 1.24%, New Rights – 0.73%, Georgian Troupe 0.11%.

In the direct voting districts for majoritarian candidates so far, Georgian Dream candidates received 39 places in the parliament, whereas UNM received 34%. Altogether, the Georgian Dream has so far won 83 seats to the UNM's 67. The Georgian Dream coalition has not achieved the constitutional majority, which is 101 seats, so it has to try to attract some MPs from UNM team. A constitutional majority is necessary for the Georgian Dream coalition to become able to introduce constitutional changes. As an example, the parliament decision to move parliament from Tbilisi to Kutaisi, because a couple of months ago under the initiative of President Saakashvili, constitutional amendments which stipulated parliament sessions to be held in Kutaisi were introduced. The Georgian Dream should be happy and proud of its victory though it needs to work hard to manage to consolidate a constitutional majority in the parliament. Of course the UNM is frustrated and upset, as it not only failed to achieve a constitutional majority as it had promised, but it also lost.

UNM and its leaders continue to speculate about the constructive position of the party and it is clear that the UNM is desperately thinking of revenge. According to the constitution, the president has the right to dissolve parliament in six months on the date that it started functioning, whereas the coalition wants to do its best to achieve a constitutional majority so it may start the impeachment process of the president and get rid of him. Meanwhile, the coalition's leader, Ivanishvili, as well as Christian Dmeocratic leader Giorgi Targanadze advised President Saakashvili to resign.