Ruling party MP offers fully majoritarian vote amid protests demanding fully proportional elections
Ruling party MP Dimitri Khundadze says that fully majoritarian elections will be more appropriate for Georgia. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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A ruling Georgian Dream (GD) majoritarian MP Dimitri Khundadze has offered the country to switch to a fully majoritarian electoral system amid protests in Tbilisi which were sparked by the rejection of the GD-proposed bill on the transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2020.
Khundadze says that all types of electoral systems, fully proportional, fully majoritarian and a mixed, are democratic. However, “the world has acknowledged the advantage of the fully majoritarian electoral system.”
In the current reality of Georgia, when hundreds of political parties have nearly similar election programmes and platforms, the fully proportional electoral system is very likely to confuse voters,” Khundadze said.
Members of the ruling party say that they will not open discussions around the initiative.
Frequent changes to the country’s constitution is not acceptable,” former Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze said.
Demonstrations demanding a fully proportional electoral system continue in Tbilisi. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Ruling party MP Mamuka Mdinaradze says that the Georgian constitution reads the transition to a fully proportional electoral system starts in 2024 and “no more amendments are expected to take place in this regard.”
- The recent protests in Tbilisi were sparked after the reflection of the election bill last week, proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, offering the transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2020 instead of 2024.
- The ruling party accepted the changes in the summer, during the June protests in Tbilisi, to calm crowds.
- As of now Georgia has a mixed electoral system with 77 seats in its 150-member parliament allocated proportionally under the party-list among parties or electoral blocs which clear a 5 per cent threshold in the race.
- The remaining 73 MPs are elected in 73 single-member districts, known as “majoritarian” mandates. A majoritarian MP candidate has to gain more than 50 per cent of votes to take a seat in the legislative body.
- The 2020 elections will be held with the help of the mixed-electoral system after the refection of the bill on November 14.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the rally dispersal on Monday and stated that police acted in full line with the law “as irresponsible politicians” made demonstrators violate the law and hamper the work of the legislative body.Gakharia stated that the freedom of expression and assembly is “fully protected in the country” and the government uses force only when demonstrators violate the law.
Police have reportedly detained about 10 people during the dispersal of a rally in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi earlier today. Radio Liberty reports the alleged detention of the leader of Girchi party Zurab Japaridze, member of the United National Movement opposition party Otar Siradze, activists Giga Maqarashvili and Zuka Berdzenishvili, lawyer Beka Basilaia and several others.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has used water cannon to disperse the rally in front of parliament in Tbilisi after demonstrators refused to leave the territory and allow MPs in the legislative body. The demonstrators, who are protesting the rejection of an election bill, refused to leave the area within 30 minutes, in the time given to them by the Interior Ministry.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party proposed bill on holding of 2020 parliamentary elections with a fully proportional voting system and a zero threshold has been scrapped as 101 MPs instead of mandatory 113 voted for it. 141 of total 150 MPs have been registered for the vote earlier today. However, 37 abstained from voting and three voted against.
All 37 individuals who were detained during the November 18 rally dispersal in front of the parliament building of Georgia for hooliganism and disobedience to police have been temporarily released by a Tbilisi City Court judge late yesterday.Discussions around the cases are scheduled to resume later today at the same court.
The leader of the European Georgia opposition party David Bakradze has announced a “large-scale” rally on Monday, November 25 in front of parliament, adding that demonstrators will ‘peacefully block the entrances’ of the legislative body on November 26.He stated that the opposition “is not happy” about blocking the parliament activities. However, “the current state leadership has left no other way."
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has responded again to ongoing electoral turmoil and stated that 2020 parliamentary elections will be conducted in a mixed electoral system and the “topic is closed.” However, the party said that it will not nominate its candidates in particular majoritarian districts in the 2020 parliamentary elections and will allow opposition candidates to win the race.
Eleven majoritarian MPs of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, who rejected the party proposed bill on an early transition to a fully proportional elections on November 14, are set to collect 200,000 signatures from voters to initiate a bill to parliament on the transition to a fully majoritarian elections from 2024.