Third party gaining seats in Parliament ‘not satisfied’
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, October 12
The political bloc Alliance of Patriots of Georgia (APG), which is the third party to gain seats in the Parliament by passing the threshold in the October 8 parliamentary elections, is not satisfied with the results, saying there are many questions left.
The Central Election Commission of Georgia (CEC) stated yesterday that the Alliance of Patriots received 88,109 votes in total, which is 5.006%, and the party was able to pass the 5% threshold.
As a result, the APG will get six mandates in the 150-seat Parliament, where 73 MPs will be elected in 73 majoritarian, single-mandate constituencies, while other 77 seats will go to MPs elected in proportional voting, based on party lists.
The leader of the APG, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi, stated that the party is ready to enter the new Parliament; however, he says there are still too many questions left about the election results. He says the party had twice the number of supporters compared to the received votes and is disappointed with the results.
“We are not satisfied with the election results. It is surprising why the international observers and most parties assessed these elections as fair, when there are so many questions,” he stated, and added that the APG will hold a congress on November 22, where all the topics related to the elections will be discussed.
The Alliance of Patriots formed a political bloc with five other opposition parties in early June, 2016 saying teaming up with five small parties will help them achieve better results. Others in the bloc are: Free Georgia, led by Kakha Kukava; Freedom, led by Konstantine Gamsakhurdia; Traditionalists, led by Akaki Asatiani; New Christian-Democrats, led by Gocha Jojua, and Political Movement of Law Enforcement and Armed Forces Veterans.
The bloc is famous for its anti-NATO and anti-Western statements, saying Georgia should mend ties with Russia and find a common language with the occupant neighbor in order to integrate Georgia’s occupied territories South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The other two parties to enter the new parliament with the APG are the ruling party Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) 48.668% and the opposition United National Movement (UNM) with 27.111%. They will run in the second round in 50 majoritarian districts later this month.
Moreover, the APG was able to pass the threshold in proportional elections of Adjara Supreme Council and the alliance will be among the four parties, which will get mandates in Adjara legislative body.
Political expert Soso Tsintsadze believes that the APG will not be able to influence any political processes in the country, because the next Parliament “is disproportionately polarized.”
The expert doubts that in order to create a constitutional majority the APG will cooperate with the ruling GDDG party.
