At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Georgia

Description of government structure:

• Head of State and Commander in Chief: President Giorgi MARGVELASHVILI
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Mamuka BAKHTADZE
• Assembly: Georgia has a unicameral parliament (Parliament of Georgia) with 150 seats.

Description of electoral system:

• The President is elected by absolute majority to serve a 6-year term. If the leading contestant does not secure 50 percent of the votes, a run-off will be held between the top two contenders.*
• Prime Minister is appointed by the president.**
• In the Parliament (Sakartvelos Parlamenti), 77 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation (PR) system to serve 4-year terms and 73 members are elected by majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***

*Following this election, the president will be elected by a 300-member election panel.

** The President of Georgia shall nominate a candidate for Prime Minister proposed by the party with the best results in parliamentary elections. The party with the most seats won in the parliamentary elections presents its candidate to the president, who in turn nominates that candidate. The parliament then confirms the candidate through a vote of confidence and the president appoints the Prime Minister within the next two days.

*** Candidates in single-member constituencies must receive at least half of the valid vote to be elected in that constituency. The threshold is 5 percent in the PR tier. If no party, bloc, or pre-election coalition achieves 5 percent of votes, re-run elections are held. Voting is not compulsory.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:*

• Salome ZURABISHIVILI
  • Party: Independent**
• Grigol VASHADZE
  • Party: United National Movement / ერთიანი ნაციონალური მოძრაობა
• Vakhtang GABUNIA
  • Party: Christian-Democratic Movement / ქრისტიანულ-დემოკრატიული მოძრაობა
• Shalva NATELASHVILI
  • Party: Labour Party of Georgia / საქართველოს ლეიბორისტული პარტია
• Davit BAKRADZE
  • Party: European Georgia – Movement for Liberty / ევროპული საქართველო - მოძრაობა თავისუფლებისთვის
• Davit USUPASHVILI
  • Party: Free Democrats – Development Movement / თავისუფალი დემოკრატები – შენების მოძრაობა
• Kakha KUKAVA
  • Party: Free Georgia / თავისუფალი საქართველოს
• Zura JAPARIDZE
  • Party: New Political Center – Girchi / ახალი პოლიტიკური ცენტრი — გირჩი

* There are 25 candidates running in this election. A full list can be found here.

** ZURABISHVILI has the backing of party, Georgian Dream. Current President Giorgi MARGVELASHVILI is not running for re-election.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,907,131 (2018 est.)
• Registered Voters: 3,513,884 (2016)

Gender Data:

Female Population: 2,041,898 (2018 est.)

• Is Georgia a signatory to CEDAW: No
• Has Georgia ratified CEDAW: Yes, accession (26 October 1994)
• Gender Quota: No (There are incentives established by law, but no quotas)
• Female candidates in this election: Yes
• Number of Female Parliamentarians: 24
• Human Development Index Position: 70 (2018)
• Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: Medium (2014)

Disability Data:

• Is Georgia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (10 July 2009)
• Has Georgia ratified CRPD: Yes (13 March 2014)
• Population with a disability: 739,684 (2018 est.)