1996 Adjaran legislative election
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All 80 seats in the Supreme Council of Adjara 41 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 93.02% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Legislative elections were held in Adjara, an autonomous republic within Georgia, on 22 September 1996. Voters elected the 80-member Supreme Council in the region's second legislative elections since Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The elections saw the Revival–Citizens bloc win 95% of the seats amid numerous violations of democratic procedures.[1][2]
Background[edit]
The 1991 Adjaran elections saw the Round Table—Free Georgia party of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia win a majority of seats in the Supreme Council, with Aslan Abashidze being appointed as its chairman. Following the coup which removed Gamsakhurdia and his Round Table party from power, Round Table politicians retained their positions in Adjara. However, they soon defected to the All-Georgian Union for Revival founded by Abashidze.[3] As the conflict in Georgia escalated into civil war, Abashidze closed the administrative border and prevented belligerents from entering Adjarian territory. This established an authoritarian semi-separatist regime in the region and created long-term problems with relations between the regional government and the central government of Georgia. Despite this, Abashidze never questioned Adjara's position in Georgia and asserted that Adjara was not a separatist territory. Abashidze's All-Georgian Union for Revival participated in the 1996 elections in a coalition with Georgia's new ruling party, the Union of Citizens of Eduard Shevardnadze.[1]
Electoral system[edit]
Out of 80 members of the Supreme Council, 40 were elected by proportional representation and 40 from single-member electoral districts. The elections were held based on the January 1991 electoral law, although amendments introduced on 16 May 1996 increased the electoral threshold for the proportional system from 4% to 5%.[3]
Results[edit]
| Party | Proportional | Constituency | Total seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | |||
| Revival–Citizens bloc | 178,406 | 83.23 | 38 | 38 | 76 | |||
| Unified Communist Party | 11,214 | 5.23 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Union of Georgian Traditionalists | 5,958 | 2.78 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| National Democratic Party | 4,953 | 2.31 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Centre-left Freedom bloc | 4,248 | 1.98 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Democratic Adjara | 2,733 | 1.27 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Republican Party | 3,008 | 1.40 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Ohoi Nana Bloc | 1,323 | 0.62 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Green Party | 1,250 | 0.58 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Konstantine Gamsakhurdia Society | 865 | 0.40 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Social Democrats | 405 | 0.19 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Independents | 2 | 2 | ||||||
| Total | 214,363 | 100.00 | 40 | 40 | 80 | |||
| Valid votes | 214,363 | 98.44 | ||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 3,387 | 1.56 | ||||||
| Total votes | 217,750 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 234,095 | 93.02 | ||||||
| Source: First Channel,[4] Adjara[5] | ||||||||
References[edit]
- ^ a b Davit Losaberidze (1998). Local government in Georgia (tendencies of development) (PDF) (in Georgian). Tbilisi, Georgia: Caucasian Institute of Peace, Democracy and Development. p. 15-16. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- ^ Country Reports on Human Rights: Practices for 1996. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1997. p. 947. ISBN 978-0-16-054190-2. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
- ^ a b Irakli Iremadze (2020). Electoral history of Georgia: 1990-2018 (PDF). Tbilisi, Georgia: Central Electoral Commission of Georgia. p. 101. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
- ^ History of Elections (PDF) (in Georgian). Tbilisi, Georgia: First Channel of Georgia. 2021. p. 11. Retrieved 15 September 2023.
- ^ Newspaper "Adjara", 25 September 1996, Adjaran Autonomous Republic
