This study shows that the district level outcomes in the
2012 parliamentary elections in Georgia are
significantly associated with the mean household
deprivation levels. This effect is statistically significant
after controlling for the regional dummies,
urbanisation level, current district’s population size,
the proportion of orthodox population, local
ideological preferences, and the rate of turnout on the
election day. The OLS models of the share of received
votes in the proportional system and the logit models
of the odds of victory of a party candidate in the
majoritarian contest both reveal that the districts with
the lowest and highest material deprivation levels
were more likely to vote for the oppositional coalition.
The results are robust even after excluding from the
analysis two fraud-prone regions of SamtskheJavakheti
and Kvemo Kart