Georgian Dream sweeps local vote, as expected

CAUCASUS / CENTRAL ASIA - In Brief 05 Oct 2025 by Ivan Tchakarov
The local elections held yesterday, Oct 4th, did not offer any surprises as the ruling Georgian Dream sailed to an easy victory. I argued recently that Georgian Dream is in the driver's seat with regard to the local elections, including because of the rifts in the opposition and its lack of success in offering an appealing program to challenge the ruling party. This has materialized. According to the preliminary results of the local vote, Georgian Dream won with a commanding 81.7% of the nationwide vote vs. 18.3% received by all opposition parties. Only two major opposition groups, Lelo/Strong Georgia and Gakharia – For Georgia, contested the municipal elections while the rest decided to boycott them. Thus, the final turnout, at 40.93%, was lower than the 51.92% posted in 2021 and 45.65% registered in 2017. In the nationwide proportional vote, the official preliminary results are as follows: the ruling Georgian Dream party leads with 81.68% of the vote, followed by Lelo/Strong Georgia with 6.71%, ex-PM Gakharia’s For Georgia with 3.68%, Iago Khvichia’s Girchi with 2.96%, and the far-right Conservatives for Georgia with 2.61% (a total of 12 parties participated in the election). The margin of victory for the mayoral race in the three biggest cities, Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Batumi, was large with GD candidates getting 70% and more. GD also won convincingly in all individual 64 municipalities across the country. Why did GD win? Local elections in Georgia, officially intended to determine the composition of municipalities, have long since turned into a nationwide event. The outcome of the vote was predictable and the ruling party confirmed its political status. Equally predic...

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