Georgia: Making Cohabitation Work

Whether the smooth transfer of power Georgia achieved after October 2012's bitter election sets a standard for democracy in its region depends on whether the new government can strengthen the independence and accountability of state institutions in what remains a fragile, even potentially explosive political climate.

Georgia: Making Cohabitation Work, a briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the uneasy transition in progress in Tbilisi. President Mikheil Saakashvili, who remains in office but is not eligible to stand for a new term in the October 2013 elections, accepted the electoral defeat of his United National Movement (UNM) and indicated he would exercise his extensive constitutional powers with restraint to lessen the prospect of a destabilising confrontation. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the new prime minister who led his Georgian Dream (GD) coalition to victory, said he was ready to work with his archrival. However, relations between the sides remain deeply strained.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Georgian parliamentary election, 2012 http://www.europeansources.info/record/georgian-parliamentary-election-2012/

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