EU ambassador: quick deal between Georgian ruling party, opposition on 2020 elections unrealistic
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that the ruling party and the opposition should continue a dialogue to reach a consensus regarding the format of the 2020 parliamentary elections.Photo: Carl Hartzell’s Twitter page.
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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.
He says that dialogue between the parties is of high importance, adding that after the first meeting on the issue last Saturday he has had a feeling that there is a possibility the issue can be resolved via dialogue.
Hartzell said that ongoing rallies and tensions on the street, which were sparked after the rejection of the GD-proposed election bill on November 14, create additional problems for a constructive process.
Hartzell after November 30 meeting between the ruling party and the opposition, attended by diplomatic corps.
Just finished first dialogue meeting between the ruling party and opposition representatives.
— Carl Hartzell (@CarlHartzellEU) November 30, 2019
I welcome the constructive discussions, demonstrating potential for decreased political polarisation. pic.twitter.com/0IyZtCeDkg
He urged everyone to act in line with law.
The opposition, which announced rallies in the regions together with the capital city, has plans to hold a demonstration in Kutaisi, western Georgia at 2 p.m. today.
- Rallies were sparked in Tbilisi on November 14 after 40 MPs of the ruling party refused to vote for the bill put forward by their own party, proposing an early transition to a fully proportional electoral system starting from 2020 instead of scheduled 2024.
- 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
The youth wing of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has announced a large gathering of its young activists “and everyone interested” from Tbilisi and the regions on December 14 to mark Georgia’s chairmanship of CoE.
The decision came after the second, five-hour meeting between the ruling party and the opposition, mediated by diplomatic corps, yesterday to ease the current tension in the country sparked by the rejection of the GD-proposed election bill on November 14 regarding the early move to a fully proportional electoral system starting from 2020 instead of 2024.
The third meeting between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition over the electoral changes has yielded no results. The opponents met in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi earlier today to discuss the possibility of moving to a multi-mandate system starting in 2020.