Parliamentary elections were held in the Georgian SSR on 28 October 1990, with a second round on 11 November.[1] They were the first free parliamentary elections in Georgia since 1919 and saw Round Table-Free Georgia emerge as the largest party in Parliament with 155 of the 250 seats. Voter turnout was 70%.
Round Table-Free Georgia MP Zviad Gamsakhurdia was subsequently elected by the Congress as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council on 14 November, effectively becoming the leader of Georgia.
The elections were the first in the Soviet Union in which the opposition groups were registered as formal political parties.[2] On 9 April 1991, the newly-elected Georgian legislature issued a declaration of Georgian independence from the USSR.[3]
On 18 August 1991 a new electoral law was passed providing for the election of the legislature consisting of 250 members, 125 elected by proportional representation and 125 from single-member districts using the two-round system. The electoral threshold for the proportional seats was set at 4%. Political parties, trade unions and movements were allowed to nominate candidates.[4]