Industrialists’ Mandate Questionable

4% not enough to gain seat in Tbilisi city council.

With all votes already counted in Tbilisi, official results give President Saakashvili’s National Movement party 34 seats out of 37 in the capital city’s council (Sakrebulo).

The remaining seats will be distributed among parties that received at least 4% of the total votes;however, in practice this provision might be invalid. According to the rule on the distribution of seats among the parties, garnering more than 4% does not automatically guarantee that the party will have a seat in the Sakrebulo.

The ruling National Movement party got a total of 66,42% of votes in Tbilisi’s ten constituencies, followed by a coalition of the Republican and Conservative opposition parties with 12% of votes.

The opposition Labor and Industry Will Save Georgia parties garnered 10,67% and 6.09%, respectively and ex-Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili's party Georgia's Way - 2,7%.

The ruling National Movement party separately won the polls in all ten of the two- and three-mandate constituencies as well, which automatically gives it the 25 majoritarian seats in the Tbilisi Sakrebulo. The ruling party will be given a further nine seats according to the percentage of votes it received in the party-list, proportional contest.

The distribution of the remaining three seats might become a source of controversy.

A coalition of Republican and Conservative parties and the Labor Party each have at least one guaranteed seat in the Tbilisi Sakrebulo. But the Industrialist Party, although it has overcome the 4% threshold, might not get a seat.

The provision of the Election Code that defines the rules for municipal elections in the capital city says that “Only those parties that garner no less than 4% of ballots cast will be able to gain proportional mandates.”

The next provision of the law defines how to calculate the number of mandates each party will receive - which translates into the number of seats in the Sakrebulo. This calculation is made based on the number of votes cast for that party as a proportion of the total number of votes cast for parties that overcome the 4% threshold.

As a result of this calculation, the Industrialist Party should be given 0,7 mandates in the Sakrebulo.

But the rule also says that this figure is then rounded down to the nearest whole number to determine the number of seats each party is given. For the Industrialists, 0,7 mandates translates to 0 seats.

“This rule of calculation is so complicated and unclear that we might even be left out of the Sakrebulo, although we have overcome the 4% threshold,” MP Zurab Tkemaladze, the leader of the Industrialists party, said.

The issue will most likely trigger controversy and debates, because it was a political commitment of the political forces that each party overcoming 4% should have a seat in Sakrebulo, while in practice this commitment is overturned by the law.

CEC says that election results in the provincial constituencies are not yet available.

Below are the election results in each of the Tbilisi's constituency:

Three-mandate constituencies:

1. Saburtalo
• National Movement - 57,9%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 17,1%
• Labor Party - 10,7%
• Industrialists - 8.1%
• Georgia’s Way - 4,4%

2. Isani
• National Movement - 71,7%
• Labor Party - 10,3%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 10,1
• Industrialists - 4,2%
• Georgia’s Way - 1,9%

3. Samgori
• National Movement - 73,5%
• Labor Party - 9,9%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 8,4%
• Industrialists - 3,6%
• Georgia’s Way - 1,7%
• Party of National Ideology - 0,2%

4. Nadzaladevi 
• National Movement - 67,5%
• Labor Party - 12,7%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 11,3%
• Industrialists - 4,5%
• Georgia’s Way - 2,2%

5. Gldani
• National Movement - 68,8%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 14,1%
• Labor Party - 10,5%
• Industrialists - 3,2%
• Georgia’s Way - 1,5%

Two-mandate constituencies:

1. Mtatsminda
• National Movement - 58,7%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 12,4%
• Labor Party - 10,9%
• Industrialists - 10,5%
• Georgia’s Way - 5,3%

2. Vake
• National Movement - 59,4%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 13,1
• Labor Party - 9,4%
• Industrialists - 12,7%
• Georgia’s Way - 4,6%

3. Krtsanisi
• National Movement - 77%
• Labor Party - 8,4%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives 5,7%
• Industrialists - 5,1%
• Georgia’s Way - 1,6%

4. Chugureti
• National Movement - 64,3%
• Labor Party - 12 7%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 10,9%
• Industrialists - 6,9%
• Georgia’s Way- 3,1%
• Party of National Ideology

5. Didube
• National Movement - 60,8%
• Coalition of Republicans and Conservatives - 14,7%
• Labor Party - 11,3%
• Industrialists - 6,1%
• Georgia’s Way - 3,3%