[1] At the time of the 2017 constitutional change, the 150-seat Georgian parliament was elected through a mixed system of 77 seats by proportional representation (5% threshold) and 73 single-seat majoritarian constituencies.
The pressure for a change to a more proportional system started after the 2016 parliamentary election when ruling Georgian Dream garnered 115 out of 150 seats, clearing the constitutional majority of 75%, while it had an overall vote share of 48.7%.
Ruling Georgian Dream MPs, parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition, legal experts and civil society organizations became member of the State Commission at the end of 2016, which was tasked with drafting constitutional reform.
In November 2019, however, individual members of parliament voted against a bill to change the electoral system, sparking renewed protests.
European mediation efforts eventually led in April 2021 to an agreement between opposition and governing parties,[9][10] which most importantly stipulated snap elections if the ruling Georgian Dream party would garner less than 43% of the vote in the October 2021 local elections, among other electoral reforms and power-sharing conditions.
[12] Since 1990, there have been 33 elections conducted in Georgia, of which eight have been presidential, ten have been parliamentary, eight have been Supreme Council of Adjara, and seven have been local; there has also been one referendum and one plebiscite.
The largest number of observers (1848 international and 13,195 local organizations) were registered by the CEC for parliamentary elections on May 21, 2008.
Electoral commissions of political unions, public associations and organizations, labor collectives, secondary special and higher education institutions of citizens of the Republic of Georgia contributed to the elections.