Small Parties in Georgian Politics

Due to the official results of the last parliamentary elections stated by the CEC, nine political parties received a mandate in the 10th convocation parliament. Despite crossing the 1% threshold, seven of them were unable to receive more than five mandates.  Such actors can be referred to as small parties. Among those subjects, there are some quite experienced actors (such as the Georgian Labour Party, Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, European Georgia, Girchi) as well as somewhat newer political unions (Lelo, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Citizens).

Such diversity of the opposition spectrum significantly increased the prospects of installing representative democracy in Georgia, although   a diverse opposition alone is not enough to ensure the proper functioning of the system.

After almost six months of parliamentary boycott, currently several opposition parties are engaged in active legislative activities and are discussing fundamentally important issues in parliament, such as one of the most disputed paragraphs of Michel’s agreement, which concerns the general amnesty regarding the events of June 20. Despite the fact that there are differences of opinions in the public regarding some of the opposition members entering Parliament (of the small parties, European Georgia definitively refused to work in Parliament), it is important to note the prospects that such parties might have in the political arena.