Saakashvili’s party receives 0.47% of votes in Ukrainian parliamentary elections
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, July 23
Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s party – The Movement of New Forces – has received 0.47% of the votes in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada snap elections held on June 21.
The exit polls say that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's party gained the majority of votes, consolidating his political power. The Servant of the People party will have a majority in parliament - but will need a coalition partner to form a government.
The current results show that Zelensky's party received 42.35%. This was followed far behind by the pro-Russian party Opposition Platform for Life, which secured 12%, and former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko's party, European Solidarity, with 8.7%. Yulia Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna got 8.33% while the Voice party of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, the 44-year-old lead singer of rock band Okean Elzy, has so far won 6.4% of the votes.
Ukrainians were electing a parliament of 424 members. Of them, 225 are elected on party tickets, and 199 are elected in local races in single-member districts. Thus, citizens cast a vote for the party they support and one for a local representative.
Turnout was a bit lower than 50 percent for the parliamentary race, down from 62 percent in the spring presidential votes.
The parliament in Ukraine is elected for a term of five years. It cannot be dissolved for one year after the election.
The Movement of New was registered in February 2017 that was formed by the Georgian ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili, who is also a former Governor of Ukraine’s Odessa Region returned to Kyiv on May 29, 2019, after President Zelensky restored his Ukrainian citizenship on May 26, which was deprived from him in July 2017.
He did not participate in the snap parliamentary elections but presented his team in mid-June which includes around 100 members. He also called on the supporters to vote for Zelensky’s party in the elections.
Saakashvili served as the third president of Georgia in 2004-2013 and the Governor of Ukraine’s Odesa in 2015-2016. He supported Ukraine's Euromaidan movement and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. On May 30, 2015, then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed him as Governor of Odesa Oblast. He was also granted Ukrainian citizenship but due to restrictions on dual nationality under Georgian law, was stripped of his Georgian citizenship.
On November 7, 2016, Saakashvili resigned as Governor, blaming Poroshenko for enabling corruption in Odesa and Ukraine overall. Four days later, he announced the creation of his political movement.
On July 26, 2017, Saakashvili, at the time staying in the US, was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship by Poroshenko, which was reinstated by Zelensky a few days ago.
So far, Saakashvili cannot return to Georgia due to the various charges against him.
