The local self-government elections of October 2, 2021 were held in Georgia against the background of certain agreements reached with the participation of international organizations, the conditions engendered by the pandemic, and a growing political crisis. The return to Georgia of the third president of the nation, Mikheil Saakashvili, and his subsequent arrest, had a significant impact on both the election day and the political processes. According to preliminary data from the CEC, the ruling Georgian Dream party crossed the 43% threshold imposed by the April 19 agreement, reaching 46.6% of the total vote share. However, in almost all major cities (Tbilisi, Batumi, Kutaisi, Rustavi and Zugdidi) the ruling party failed to reach 43% of the vote share. In addition, Georgian Dream achieved the highest results in the minority-populated regions of Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti.

The attainment of good election results by the ruling party in minority-populated regions is not the exclusive achievement of Georgian Dream. Nefarious practices for achieving high results were used by almost all previous governments. Yet, this was often explained by the low political awareness of non-dominant ethnic groups, their weak participation in public life, and even their lack of knowledge of the state language. This document is an attempt to analyse the main challenges, problematic approaches and the distinct environment within which Georgian citizens from non-dominant ethnic groups have to make their political choices.

The document was prepared by the staff of the Social Justice Center on the basis of observations of the election processes in Kvemo Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti regions during the pre-election period and on the election day itself.

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