The article analyzes the influence of the parliamentary elections in Georgia in October 2016 to Russian-Georgian relations. Ruling party "Georgian Dream" (GD) overwhelmingly won the elections and it shows that the current policy towards Moscow will not be radically revisited. At the same time we can expect GD's policy will be less flexible, than it was before. So the limits of normalization between Russia and Georgia will be more evident.
Even though the country is a regional frontrunner, Georgian democracy is not yet consolidated. Parliamentary elections in 2016 saw the governing Georgian Dream returned with a constitutional majority. The October 2017 local elections brought the ruling party another sweeping victory. Despite Georgian Dream's overwhelming electoral successes, the country faces voter apathy. Alongside lack of parliamentary controls and a fragmentation of the party-political spectrum this does not bode well for consolidating democracy in the near future. (Autorenreferat)
This article reviews the results of Georgia's 2016 parliamentary elections and assesses the post-electoral political development, focusing on the constitutional reform process and the dramatic changes in the opposition spectrum that followed the polls. The article concludes that despite the overall democratic conduct of parliamentary elections one year ago, the political implications in the aftermath have been worrisome. The ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party solidified its presence in the Parliament, while the liberal opposition spectrum has become fragmented and further weakened, losing its leverage for influencing everyday political decisions. The ruling party has also embarked on an ambitious and single-handed journey to transform the country's constitution, including pushing through the widely denounced abolition of direct presidential elections and postponing its earlier plans to transition into a fully proportional parliamentary representation in 2020.
The paper is devoted to the analysis of internal and foreign political processes in Georgia in 2015. This analytical chronicle is to trace and describe the most important tendencies in such fields as the contention between political parties, the balance within the ruling coalition and the relations with Georgia's key foreign partners. Though "Georgian Dream" (GD) government met the crisis and had to change premier by the end of the year, it managed to keep the leading position in domestic politics. The main opponent of the GD, the United National Movement (UNM) could not increase its influence. The Republican party of Georgia, the member of ruling coalition that has rather weak support from the voters, was able to strengthen its position in the government by getting some key offices. The expansion of cooperation with NATO does not bring near prospects of membership. Although every single measure the sides are taking seems to be insignificant, as a complex these measures can lead to a deeper involvement of NATO and USA in the South Caucasus. The relations with European Union are inertial and strongly overestimated in Georgian internal politics. The relations with Russia are routinized; both sides acknowledge the achievements of the normalization and do not expect any breakthrough.
