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Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on May 21, 2008.〔(Parliamentary Elections Set for May 21 ). ''Election.ge''. March 21, 2008.〕 President Mikheil Saakashvili proposed a referendum on bringing them forward from October to April after the 2007 Georgian demonstrations.〔(Georgia to hold early elections ) BBC News, 8 November 2007〕 The referendum was held at the same time as the early presidential election on 5 January 2008; according to exit polls, voters were largely in favour of having the elections in spring. The Central Election Commission has registered 3,458,020 voters.〔(Total Number of voters ), Central Election Commission, Georgia. Accessed on May 10, 2008.〕 The election was observed by 14 international and 31 local organizations.〔( The List of International Non-Governmental Organizations registered at the Central Election Commission of Georgia for May 21, 2008 Parliamentary Elections ), Central Election Commission, Georgia. Accessed on May 10, 2008.〕〔(The List of local Non-Governmental Organizations registered at the Central Election Commission of Georgia for May 21, 2008 Parliamentary Elections ), Central Election Commission, Georgia. Accessed on May 10, 2008.〕 == Pre-election process == The pre-election process has principally been monitored by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as well as several local watchdogs. The PACE observers have reported “little or no improvement” in the political climate since the January 5 presidential election which was held in the tense aftermath of the November 2007 political crisis and resulted in the reelection of Mikheil Saakashvili to his second term. The monitoring mission has noted that “the political climate is still dominated by a lack of trust and absence of constructive dialogue between the authorities and the opposition”, one result of this being “the failure of the electoral reform that the authorities and the opposition agreed upon in the aftermath of the November 2007 events.”〔(Honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia. Information ''note by the co-rapporteurs on their fact-finding visit to Tbilisi (26-27 March 2008)''. ) Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, April 9, 2008.〕 The amendments to the election code passed by the Parliament in March 2008 took into account recommendations made by the PACE, such as abolition of the additional voters’ lists and voter registration on polling day; lowering of the election threshold from 7% to 5%; the simplification and clarification of election related complaints and appeals procedures; the introduction of party representation in the District Election Commissions. However, the PACE noted that a number of its other recommendations remained unaddressed.〔 This period has also witnessed significant reshuffle within the major political players. On February 29, 2008, the moderate Republican Party of Georgia left the nine-party opposition coalition, which spearheaded anti-government protests in November 2007, announcing that they would run independently for the parliamentary election, targeting mainly moderate and undecided voters.〔(New Opposition Configuration Emerges Ahead of Polls. ) Civil Georgia, February 29, 2008.〕 On the other hand, the opposition New Rights party, which had distanced themselves from the 2007 demonstrations, now joined the nine-party coalition under an election bloc named United Opposition–New Rights.〔(Three Blocs, Nine Parties Run in Parliamentary Polls. ) Civil Georgia, April 8, 2008.〕 Another key event, which sent shockwaves across Georgia’s political scene on April 21, 2008, was the refusal by Nino Burjanadze, the outgoing parliamentary chairwoman and Saakashvili’s ally, to run on the president-led United National Movement (UNM) ticket, citing an absence of consensus within the UNM leadership regarding the party list.〔(Georgia: In Surprise Move, Burjanadze Says She Won't Seek Reelection ). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, April 22, 2008.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Georgian parliamentary election, 2008」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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