Presidential Elections in Georgia, 27th October 2013

Last October 2012, Georgia witnessed a watershed moment with its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence, from the ruling party to the opposition. Independence took place as in other former Soviet Republics in 1991, in some it occurred a year before, in others, a year later. In the case of Georgia independence was proclaimed in March 1991.

The case of Georgia is very interesting as it is the first country within the Caucasus or Central Asian republics, formerly belonging to the Soviet Union, where a peaceful, democratic transfer of power occurred. The elections held were for the Georgian Parliament where the opposition party "Georgian Dream" won the majority of seats and since October 2012 has co-existed with a President from a different Party, "United National Movement or UNM"

This October 2013 will bring another major milestone as Georgians return to the polls to select a successor to President Mikheil Saakashvili.

OSCE/ODIHR Electoral Observation http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/georgia/66638