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Georgia Votes

31 October 2020

Updated at 1800 CET (2100 Tbilisi)

The ruling Georgian Dream party has claimed victory in today's parliamentary election, based on exit polls, most of which indicate that it will emerge as the largest party in the new parliament. But there is still some uncertainty if it will be able to secure enough seats to govern on its own. The largest opposition party in the poll was Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement, though again the exit polls differ a lot as to what percentage of votes the party got, although most put it around 30%. All the other parties got less than 5%. But we want to emphasis these are exit polls - and in Georgia they do not always reflect the reality. (Picture shows GD supporters in a carcade on Rustaveli Avenue - picture courtesy of Interpress News, Tbilisi)

Updated at 1730 CET (2030 Tbilisi)

Both government and opposition appear to be claiming victory in today's parliamentary elections in Georgia based on different exit poll predictions.

Updated at 1715 CET (2015 Tbilisi)

There are some preliminary exit poll results. One is giving the ruling Georgian Dream party a clear win with 52.26%

Updated at 1700 CET (2000 Tbilisi)

Polls are now closed in Georgia's parliamentary elections to choose 150 members of the new parliament.

During the day polling was largely peaceful, with some isolated incidents in Gldani, Bolnisi and Marneuli amongst others. But as closing time approached tensions became higher close to polling stations. Many opposition leaders have announced that they have won the election, although it is not clear on what information thiese assessments are based. It is likely to be a tense few hours until the results become known.

Updated at 1530 CET (1830 Tbilisi)

Tension is reported to be high near many polling stations in Georgia as the last voters make it to the polling stations before they close at 2000.

According to figures from the Georgian Central Elections Commission voter turnout so far (up to 1700 local time) was 45.77%.

1 million 607 530 voters had voted up to that point.

Updated at 1415 CET (1715 Tbilisi)

The Central Elections Commission has now released the number of voters as of 1500 Tbilisi Time 1,279,947 voters, representing 36.45% of the total number of voters had voted

The highest voter turnout was reported in the Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti region, where 49.5% of voters cast their ballots as of 15:00, while the lowest voter turnout was reported in the Kvemo Kartli region - 33.9%. Tbilisi came in second to the last, with 34.2% voter turnout.

In comparison, in the 2016 parliamentary elections, voter turnout up to 1500 was 34.79%. Polls will close at 20.00 local time

Updated at 1400 CET (1700 Tbilisi)

As voting continues in the Georgian elections, the issue of international election observation has been under consideration after the European Parliament decided not to send an observation mission, and even more significantly ODIHR, the leading European election observation body decided not to deploy the planned five hundred short term observers, both because of the pandemic.

However a number of other parliamentary assemblies, such as the NATO PA, the OSCE PA and PACE have sent small missions. These are joined today by an EU led effort involving the EU Delegation, as well as Missions from the member states, Switzerland and Norway. Called the European Diplomatic Watch the seventy teams mobilised will monitor about one thousand polling stations. They will join thousands of domestic observers, who have been busy all day monitoring the process.

Updated at 1200 CET (1500 Tbilisi)

We now have the figures for polling until Midday local time (1200) - that is after four hours of voting.According to the Central Elections Commission voter turnout in the whole territory of Georgia was 19.41%. According to CEC spokeswoman Ana Mikeladze, 681,583 voters have cast their ballots so far.

"The highest activity is in Racha-Lechkhumi and Svaneti - 28.3% and the lowest rate in Adjara - 17.9%," said Ana Mikeladze.

Several political parties and domestic observation groups are reporting violations of procedure in various locations across the country, including carousel voting. The reports are being investigated

Updated at 1000 CET (1300 Tbilisi)

Voting has been brisk throughout the morning in Georgia's parliamentary elections being held today. Some small incidents were reported in Marneuli District and other parts of the Kvemo Kartli Region to the south of Tbilisi which has a large Azerbaijani speaking population. Some issues were also reported in Gldani District in Tbilisi, which is an opposition stronghold. This picture from a screengrab from TV Mtvari shows a fist fight in a polling station in Marneuli where a voter was alleged to have voted without an ID card.

The leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidhzina Ivanishvili voted this morning in Tbilisi. He said he was voting for a free future and for democracy. (picture screengrab from TV Maestro)

Voting in Tbilisi was reported to be brisque. Picture shows voters wearing masks because of coronavirus rules, entering polling station no 79 in Tbilisi's Saburtalo District on 31 October 2020 (Picture by George Simonishvili for commonspace.eu)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Georgians are voting today (Saturday 31 October) to elect a new 150 member parliament: 120 elected by proportional representation, and 30 by a majoritarian electoral system.

48 parties and 2 election blocs are contesting the elections.

The consolidated voter list includes 3,526,023 voters, including 14,170 registered abroad.

The elections will be monitored by 80,819 representatives of political parties and candidates, 46981 representatives of 132 local observers and 910 observers of 5 election administrations, 20 embassies and 23 international organizations. 5 971 representatives of 118 media organizations will cover the election process.

Polling stations opened at 07:00 and will close at 20:00. The procedures to be carried out at the polling stations before the voting started at 07:00, and the direct voting procedure started at 08:00. The polling station will be closed at 20:00. (Georgian time is CET +3).

The election campaign was overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic . Most of the international attention has also been elsewhere in the Caucasus where a war is raging between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

source: commonspace.eu

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Monday Commentary: PEACE IN OUR TIME?

19 October 2026

Making peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan was never going to be simple, nor easy, nor quick. It is taking time, writes Dennis Sammut in this Monday Commentary. “There is a sense of realism coming from the leaders of the two countries – President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and prime minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, that frankly, is necessary and welcome”, he writes. At a time when conflicts are raging all over the world – from Ukraine to the Gulf, from Africa to South Asia, the prospect that Armenia and Azerbaijan had finally, after decades of conflict that left thousands of dead and many more displaced, decided on embarking on a journey of peace was welcomed. Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan can be top-down up to a point. Both leaders have spent political capital preparing for a peace deal. But both are aware that their people are not ready for peace yet. In fact, in Armenia, most of the elite are negative toward a peace deal with Azerbaijan. Pashinyan needs time to persuade his countryfolk. That is why 2031 is realistic. Ilham Aliyev runs a tighter shop, but he is also not immune to public opinion. Every time someone hits a landmine in Karabakh, which unfortunately happens often, peace comes into question. Which is why Aliyev chooses to sound hardline, more often than not. In pursuing the peace agenda, both Aliyev and Pashinyan need to proceed cautiously. But they are right in making peace the central issue in their agenda. It is the main issue, and the one that will define them in history. So forward, cautiously but resolutely! In pursuing the peace agenda, Aliyev and Pashinyan need to be supported clearly and unambiguously. There are too many people in Baku and Yerevan who are sitting on the sides, waiting. The international community is not doing enough. It is time to be counted. Otherwise, the spoilers will win, and the region will go back to its bad habits. (Click the image to read the full commentary).

Dennis Sammut

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Ukraine Peace Talks Set to Expand as Russia and Europe Clash Over Post-war Security

13 November 2026

Ukraine and Russia could see European countries join the next round of peace negotiations, following talks between US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday (November 12). However, conflicting positions over European military involvement, Ukraine’s territorial future and the continent’s security arrangements highlight the difficulties facing the diplomatic process. Speaking after the meeting, Witkoff said European participation would be an important development, describing the countries concerned as key partners. Kushner also indicated that Washington had noticed a shift in European attitudes and believed their involvement would not obstruct progress. In a statement published on X, he said the expanded discussions would address broader European security arrangements alongside territorial disputes between Russia and Ukraine. The US envoys subsequently travelled to Dublin, where they met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a European summit. Zelenskyy welcomed the possibility of European participation and expressed hope that the negotiations would include measures to reduce tensions and establish ceasefires. He also reiterated the importance of European representation in decisions concerning the continent’s security. Moscow, however, has offered a more cautious interpretation of the proposed expansion. Putin's aide, Yuri Ushakov, suggested that European countries should first reconsider their military assistance to Kyiv, arguing that their current actions demonstrated an unwillingness to pursue peace. Putin similarly called on Washington to work with its European allies to establish whether they genuinely wanted peace or continued confrontation with Russia. The Russian president also rejected the prospect of European peacekeeping troops being deployed to Ukraine following a potential agreement, describing such a presence as a continuation of the war. His position reflects wider disagreements over the future European security architecture, with Moscow seeking discussions on the continent's broader security arrangements, while European leaders insist that such negotiations cannot replace a settlement of the war. Simultaneously, Zelenskyy raised concerns about disruptions to Starshield, the US-made satellite communications service used by Ukrainian forces. He described Washington’s discussions with Moscow about Europe's future security as unusual and warned against decisions that could undermine Ukraine's sovereignty. Despite the diplomatic activity, fighting continued. Russian drone attacks killed two people in Ukraine's Sumy region and injured five in Rivne, while a separate attack in Russia's Belgorod region killed one person and injured four. Ukrainian agricultural company Kernel Holding also suspended operations at all its oilseed extraction facilities following repeated Russian attacks.

Last week I visited Baku, Azerbaijan. My visit was relatively short, but very intensive, and had many meetings with stakeholders and colleagues. When I arrived in Baku first time in 1996, Azerbaijan was a different country: weak, poor, and shaken by defeat in war. For thirty year the Karabakh issue dominated the agenda: the political agenda but also the popular mindset. Now, thirty years later, Azerbaijan has returned to Karabakh, and peace with Armenia is on the horizon. It is a new era for Armenia-Azerbaijan relations, for the South Caucasus, but also for Europe. But we cannot be complacent: the Peace agreement has been initialed but not signed; borders remain closed; TRIPP is ambitious but remains an idea; and there are spoilers who want to turn the clock back. We must not allow them, and in this Europe and Azerbaijan must work together. Europe’ vanguard organization is the European Union – it is a free union of 27 member states; it is a strong global economic force, and increasingly a diplomatic and military force too. But it remains “work in progress” and can often appear dysfunctional. It often lacks collective and institutional memory. In its dealings with Azerbaijan the EU has made many mistakes – not least opening the delegation here late – in 2008. It sometimes appears condescending. Some utterances from the European Parliament and from some quarters in some member states are not understandable even for me. They irritate the Azerbaijanis, but serve no other purpose But Azerbaijan has also not handled relations with the EU well. It has failed to respond when the hand of friendship reached out; and it confused irritating actions, sometimes by well-meaning people; sometimes by outright spoilers, with strategic action. In short, EU-Azerbaijan relations have suffered from a lack of proper dialogue. This dialogue must be frank, honest and multi-faceted involving different segments of society on both sides. Is Azerbaijan Europe? When Azerbaijan applied to join the Council of Europe in the 1990s, there were some who opposed, saying this was not Europe. I was one of the people who argued that Armenia and Azerbaijan may be on the periphery of the continent geographically, but were European in essence. Certainly their elites. During the discussion on 4 September in Baku, my friend Farhad Mammedov, mentioned that Azerbaijan is not interested in joining the EU, and was now close to the Central Asian countries in the 5 plus 1 format. Neither things mean that Azerbaijan is not Europe. There are several European countries that are not in the EU, and do not want to be, for example Norway and Switzerland. Iceland has recently voted to stay out of the EU. The UK was a member and left. Europe is bigger than the EU, and the holding of the European Political Community summit in Baku in 2027 proves that. Despite all the rhetoric, I never heard the president of Azerbaijan saying that Azerbaijan is not Europe, nor have I heard any European president say it either. Not wanting to join the EU and forging close relations with neighbouring regions does not make Azerbaijan any less European. It is only logical that when Europeans talk to Azerbaijan they talk like family. The conversation is often frank. It must also be honest, and Europeans need always to remember this too. A frank, honest and multi-faceted dialogue A frank, honest and multifaceted dialogue will contribute to relations between Azerbaijan and the rest of Europe: it will avoid misperception, which unfortunately is very common on both sides; it will provide a forum where problems can be discussed and resolved, and it will increase mutual trust, so that together common problems can be addressed. (click image to read the full Monday Commentary)

Dennis Sammut

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Monday Commentary

Monday Commentary: “The barren rocks of Aden” and “These lands of Yemen are so ruthless”

21 September 2026

There are two early 20th-century tunes that mark foreign attempts to occupy and “pacify” Yemen. The Scottish tune “The barren rocks of Aden” marks the mobilisation of Highland soldiers, enlisted to be deployed to the Yemeni port of Aden, that in 1837 became the last colony to be incorporated into the British Empire. The tune talks of the harshness of the terrain, but is celebratory, It was even played as a farewell tune to Sir William Luce at the parade in Sharjah celebrating his end as “British Viceroy” in the Middle East in 1966. The second tune is an Anatolian lament. As Ilker Sezer reminded us this weekend, in his weekly feature on “Turkiye Today”, it “mourns the tragic fate of Ottoman soldiers dispatched to the harsh, remote deserts of Yemen during the fall of the empire, young men who marched away from their villages and never returned home. Most of their names, and numbers, were never recorded. Yet, their fate left a mark on the Turkish psyche.” Subsequent invaders have discovered that Yemen is a grave that cannot be overcome by the strength of modern technology, and that whilst Yemeni society is splintered and divided, building a reliable alliance with Yemeni factions is difficult. These are the harsh lessons facing Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom faces its biggest challenge in its modern history. The leadership of the Kingdom now has to respond decisively. At stake is their very credibility. This is likely to be a long and messy conflict. Saudi military objectives need to be focused: to box in the Houthis rather than destroy them. This is likely to include: (a) regaining territory lost on the Red Sea coast; (b) control over Bab el Mandeb Strait; (c) some kind of cordon sanitaire on the Saudi-Yemeni border; and if things go well (d) the capture of Sanaa. All this would not eliminate the Houthi problem, but it will contain it. In the end the Saudis will have to continue managing Yemen with a mixture of carrot and stick. For the moment, the stick is likely, but the carrot cannot be forgotten either. (click the image to read the Monday Commentary in full)

Dennis Sammut

Georgia Votes

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Monday Commentary: PEACE IN OUR TIME?

Ukraine Peace Talks Set to Expand as Russia and Europe Clash Over Post-war Security

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Monday Commentary: European-Azerbaijan relations need an intensive and multifaceted dialogue that is frank and honest

Monday Commentary: “The barren rocks of Aden” and “These lands of Yemen are so ruthless”