Georgia (country)
Georgian Dream government (2012–present)

In preparation for the 2012 parliamentary elections, Georgia implemented constitutional reforms to switch to a parliamentary democracy, moving executive powers from the President to the Prime Minister. The transition was set to start with the October 2012 parliamentary elections and to be completed with the 2013 presidential elections.Against the expectations of the ruling United National Movement (UNM) of president Mikheil Saakashvili, a 6-party coalition centred around the newly founded Georgian Dream party won the parliamentary elections in October 2012, bringing an end to nine years of UNM rule and marking the first peaceful electoral transfer of power in Georgia. President Saakashvili acknowledged the defeat of his party on the following day. Georgian Dream was founded, led and financed by tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country's richest man, who was subsequently elected by parliament as new Prime Minister. Due to the incomplete transition to parliamentary democracy, a year of uneasy cohabitation between Ivanishvili and Saakashvili followed until the presidential election in October 2013, which was won by Giorgi Margvelashvili from the Georgian Dream party. With the completed transfer of power, Prime Minister Ivanishvili stepped aside and named one of his close business associates, Irakli Garibashvili, as the next prime minister. Ivanishvili has since been called the informal leader of Georgia, arranging political reappointments from behind the scenes. Saakashvili left Georgia shortly after the election. In 2018, he was convicted in absentia on corruption charges and abuse of power, which he denied.

Georgian Dream won the parliamentary elections with 48.61% of the vote while UNM received 27.04%. As result of the mixed proportional-majoritarian voting system, this translated into a parliamentary supermajority of 115 out of 150 seats (77%). This electoral imbalance became a key issue of political and civil society strife in the following years. In the 2018 presidential election, the Georgian Dream party backed Salome Zurabishvili, who won in the second round, becoming the first woman in Georgia to hold the office in full capacity. This was the last direct election of a Georgian president, as additional constitutional reforms removed the popular vote.

After international mediation to overcome the deep political crisis in the run-up to the 2020 parliamentary elections, an amended electoral system was adopted, specifically for the 2020 elections. Nine parties were elected to parliament. Georgian Dream secured over 48% of votes, which translated into 90 out of 150 seats. They were thus able to continue to govern alone. The opposition made accusations of fraud, which Georgian Dream denied. Thousands of people gathered outside the Central Election Commission to demand a new vote. This led to a new political crisis that was (temporarily) resolved by an EU brokered agreement, from which the Georgian Dream later withdrew. In February 2021, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia resigned and Irakli Garibashvili became Prime Minister once more.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Georgia has topped the list of countries which Russian exiles departed to after the war began; Russians are allowed to stay in Georgia for at least one year without a visa, though many Georgians view the presence of more Russian citizens in Georgia as a security risk.

On 7 March 2023, the Parliament of Georgia, led by the Georgian Dream coalition, attempted to pass the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence which requires Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to register as "agents of foreign influence", if upwards of 20% of their funding is from foreign support. The passing of the bill resulted in severe protests and criticism from the US State Department, United Nations and European Union, leading to the termination of further discussions of the bill. On 3 April 2024, the Georgian Parliament announced the draft of a similar law named the Proposed Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence, leading to larger protests, the bill has been described as "the Russian law" by the opposition and protestors, in reference to the Russian foreign agent law. At least 200,000 people have joined the protests against the law, which they describe as " Kremlin -style", and a threat to democracy and free speech.
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