Former Parliament Speaker of Georgia, Nino Burjanadze, left the United National Movement’s government in April, prior to the Parliamentary Elections scheduled on 21 May 2008. The Democratic Movement – United Georgia, was registered on 19 March 2008. Burjanadze’s electoral block became a qualified subject for the 2014 Local Self-Government Elections, however, it failed to clear the 5% hurdle in the 2016 Parliamentary Elections. Nino Burjanadze is the second Georgian politician, after ex-Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, who, after the 2008 RussianGeorgian War, met with Vladimir Putin in 2010. For the 2016 elections, she put forward an initiative of block-free status which implied amending the constitution to reflect this status. MDF’s monitoring in 2016 showed that the political party stood out for its homophobic statements.
