2012 Georgian parliamentary election

In 2009, opposition parties together held protests to demand the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili accusing him of concentrating power to himself, using riot police to crush opposition rallies in 2007. Protests seeking the president's resignation were suppressed once again in 2011.

According to the amendments to the Constitution of Georgia passed on 15 October 2010, the Parliament elected in 2012 would have to form a new government after the constitutional amendments entered into force upon the inauguration of the next president, who was to be elected in October 2013. The amendments envisaged significant reduction of the powers of President in favor of Prime Minister of Georgia and the government.[5] According to another amendment, passed on 1 July 2011, the parliament elected in 2012 would be permanently relocated from Tbilisi to the country's second largest city of Kutaisi.[3]

In November 2010, the United National Movement and several opposition parties launched talks in order to develop a new electoral system. On 27 June 2011, the UNM succeeded in getting a majority of the votes for its proposed electoral system reform, effectively splintering the Group of Eight opposition coalition. Two members of the coalition — the Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM), and the New Rights, as well as two other opposition parties – the National-Democratic Party, and On Our Own — signed a deal with the UNM on a reformed electoral system, envisaging, among other provisions, an increase in the number of parliamentary seats up to 190 (83 majoritarian and 107 proportional seats).[6] Six of the former coalition members — National Forum, Our Georgia – Free Democrats (OGFD), Conservative Party, Republican Party, Georgia's Way, and the People's Party — refused to join the deal and unveiled a new alliance on 8 July, though it collapsed on 6 October.[7]

Democratic Movement – United Georgia, a radical opposition party led by Nino Burjanadze, which had refused to join the electoral reform talks, was behind the May 21–26, 2011 rallies, which ended with a clash with police, leaving four dead.[8]

On 7 October 2011, Bidzina Ivanishvili, a multi-billionaire businessman and philanthropist, who had formerly been on good terms with the authorities, stirred up the political scene of Georgia by unleashing criticism of the Saakashvili government and announcing his intention to establish a political party and to run in the 2012 parliamentary elections.[9] He named the Republican Party, led by David Usupashvili, and Our Georgia – Free Democrats, led by Irakli Alasania, among his future partners.[10] In a written statement, Ivanishvili revealed that, beyond dual Georgian and Russian citizenship, he also had a French passport. As a result, the Georgian civil registry agency ruled his Georgian citizenship had become invalid. According to the law, only Georgian citizens can set up or fund a political party.[11] In May 2012, the parliament voted to allow European Union citizens to become MPs. On 27 May 2012, Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream alliance announced the start of the campaign, drawing tens of thousands of supporters in a large anti-government rally in downtown Tbilisi.[12]

Because Ivanishvili was unsatisfied with the format proposed for the country's public TV broadcaster's election debates on September 9 and September 18, his Georgian Dream coalition refused to take part in them - the country's first such events. Ivanishvili would not debate prime minister Vano Merabishvili and would meet only Mikheil Saakashvili, saying: "I respect Vano, but [debates with him] will not work”.[13][14][15]

After the screening of a video on Maestro TV and Ivanishvili's TV9 channel, showing torture in a Georgian prison, demonstrators called for Saakashvili's resignation. While the video was labeled as having been made by "politically motivated persons," the national prosecutor's office announced the arrests of 10 people, including the head of the Prison No.8 in Tbilisi,[16] two deputies and prison guards. The interior minister, Bacho Akhalaia, resigned, as well as the Corrections and Legal Assistance Minister, Khatuna Kalmakhelidze. Saakashvili said: "Tonight, I tell all the victims of these inhuman actions and the whole nation that the Georgia we have built and we are all building together shall not and will not tolerate such behaviour - in its prisons or anywhere else. Those who committed these crimes will spend long years in jail, as will those who bribed guards to stage these horrors and film them." At a televised meeting later with prime minister Merabishvili, justice minister Zurab Adeishvili, prosecutor-general Murtaz Zodelava and new prisons service chief Giorgi Lortkipanidze,[17] he called for reforms, saying: "This system, the way it is now, should be entirely abolished." It was, he added, "an emergency" and he ordered that patrol police officers should perform prison duties until reforms were enacted.[18]

Russia - Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on the day after the elections that "information on results of the elections demonstrates the people of that country are looking for changes. If those results become a reality – Georgia’s political landscape will be more versatile. This is only positive, as, most likely, this means more constructive and responsible forces will appear in the parliament. United Russia, being the leading political force in Russia, is ready for a dialogue on future of the Russia-Georgia relations".[30]

Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said "I hope for constructive changes to let us normalise the relations. We will be judging not by statements, but by deeds”. At the same time, he warned Georgia’s new ruling power that Russia was not going to hold any negotiations on the law on "occupied territories", which Georgia adopted following the 2008 South Ossetia war. Lukashevich said that Russia would refer to the "Republic of Abkhazia" and "Republic of Ossetia" and not use the term "occupied territories".[30]

Chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on the CIS and compatriots Leonid Slutsky said "Georgia’s parliament will be managed by people, who oppose the present regime of Mikheil Saakashvili, and there is hope of a positive element in relations between Russia and Georgia."[30]