Demonstrators block entrance to parliament building in Tbilisi

The ruling Georgian Dream party MPs urge the demonstrators to stop blocking the parliament building, otherwise the government will act according to the law. Photo: NIno Alavidze/AGenda.ge

Agenda.ge, 17 Nov 2019 - 20:34, Tbilisi,Georgia

Participants of a protest rally on Rustaveli Avenue in downtown Tbilisi have blocked the entrances to the parliament of Georgia with tents.

Grigol Vashadze of the opposition United National Movement said they will not leave the area.

The demonstrators who protest parliament’s rejection of an electoral bill aimed at moving from a mixed system to a proportional one, plan to continue the protests until their demands are fulfilled.

Photo: Nino ALavidze/Agenda.ge

Meanwhile, the ruling Georgian Dream party MPs urge the demonstrators to stop blocking the parliament building, otherwise the government will act according to the law.

The ruling party-proposed bill aimed to holding 2020 parliamentary elections fully proportional, was scrapped, as only 101 MPs voted for it instead of mandatory 113 in the 150-member parliament.

All of those 40 MPs who either voted against or abstained were from the ruling party, while all of the opposition legislators voted in favour. After the rejection of the bill, a total of 12 MPs, who had voted in favour, left the ruling party.

However, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and other ruling party members said that the country will have a proportional system "as we have stated it in the constitution starting 2024".