Tuesday, Oct. 9

2 - 3:30 p.m.

Atlantic Council, 1101 15th Street, NW, 11th Floor

Washington, DC 20005

The Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center will host a discussion about Georgia’s recent parliamentary elections held on October 1 with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DLR) Thomas Melia, NDI President Kenneth Wollack, and Atlantic Council Executive Vice President Damon Wilson. Eurasia Center Director Ross Wilson will moderate the discussion.

This event will stream live online at 2:00 p.m. EDT at http://www.livestream.com/atlanticcouncil [2].

These elections are a crucial test for Georgia’s young democracy and the results will bear substantially on Georgia’s ties with the United States, efforts to join Western institutions, and, potentially, relations with Moscow. Domestically, this election has extra weight because much of the president’s power will shift to parliament in 2013. In the wake of their recent observation missions to Georgia and eight days after the voting, the discussants will examine the significance of the results for the country’s future course.

A discussion with:

• Thomas O. Melia, deputy assistant secretary of state, U.S. Department of State
• Kenneth Wollack, president, National Democratic Institute (NDI)
• Damon Wilson, executive vice president, Atlantic Council
• Moderated by Ross Wilson, director, Patriciu Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council