Police investigate clash which left five injured at ruling party office
Demonstrators and ruling party supporters clashed late yesterday at the central office of the ruling party. Photo: IPN.
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The Georgian Interior Ministry is investigating a clash late yesterday which left five with minor injuries at the central office of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party in Tbilisi.
The clash took place between demonstrators protesting the rejection of the GD-proposed election bill on November 14 and supporters of the ruling party.
The demonstrators, who accuse the ruling party of “deliberately rejecting” its own bill, say that all five injured were “attacked” by the ruling party supporters.
Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze has urged for peaceful manifestations and call upon police to prevent the actions “of provocative groups.”
Rallies were sparked in Tbilisi after 40 MPs of the ruling party refused to vote for the bill proposed by their own party, suggesting an early transition to a fully proportional electoral system starting from 2020 instead of scheduled 2024.
The opposition is set to announce their plan on ongoing protests later today. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Ruling party top figures stated that they failed to persuade the MPs elected in single-mandate constituencies to vote for the bill, describing the rejection as “very sad.”
The GD accepted the early transition in the summer, during June protests, to calm the crowds angered by the presence of Russian MPs, from the occupant country, in Georgian parliament.
The opposition, which has been demanding the change for years, says that the ruling party has “cheated people.”
Now the opposition is demanding “an adapted German electoral model” for 2020 elections, with the ruling party stating that the model “is contradicting the Georgian constitution.”
Like the current Georgian mixed electoral system, the German model is also mixed. However, it allows for the distribution of seats in parliament based on the votes received in proportional voting.
About 30 opposition parties, including the parliamentary opposition, have presented an ‘adapted version’ of the German electoral model for Georgia’s 2020 parliamentary elections amid protests in Tbilisi sparked by the rejection of the ruling party proposed bill which offered an early transition to a fully proportional electoral system starting 2020 instead of 2024.
Six demonstrators have been detained by police earlier today for hooliganism and disobedience to law enforcers at a rally near the National Library in central Tbilisi.
The diplomatic corps in Georgia has offered to orchestrate a meeting between the ruling party and the opposition which may take place early tomorrow, former Parliament Speaker, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party MP Irakli Kobakhidze has stated. The EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that “he is happy” the meeting will take place.
The Georgian Dream ruling party has announced that they are ready to conduct the 2020 parliamentary elections on the proportional electoral system only, which has been one of the top demands of demonstrators gathered in Tbilisi since June 20.
About 30 opposition parties, who have offered the transfer to ‘an adapted version of the German electoral model’ for the 2020 parliamentary elections, say they will register the bill in parliament in the coming days and are requesting Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria send the bill to the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for evaluations.
The Head of the Council of Europe (CoE) Office in Georgia Christian Urse says that diplomatic corps are now focused on the dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition for the 2020 elections in Georgia as the Georgian constitution allows the transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2024 and the problems related to election systems will be removed automatically.
The EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that the Georgian Dream ruling party and the opposition coming to a consensus soon regarding the electoral system for the 2020 parliamentary elections is unrealistic.