Georgia to continue election discussions once state of emergency lifted
Georgia is scheduled to hold parliamentary elections in the autumn. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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The Georgian parliament will renew the election system-related discussions as soon as the state of emergency has ended, Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze stated earlier today.
The state of emergency is expected to end May 22.
We will renew work for constitutional changes and in parallel we will take steps for further refinement of the election code in line with the recommendations of OSCE,” Talakvadze said.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the united opposition reached an agreement on March 8, 2020 on holding the upcoming parliamentary elections this October with 120 seats in the legislative body to be distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system.
The agreement also foresees a fair composition of election districts, a 1% threshold, and a cap recognising that no single party that wins less than 40% of the votes should be able to get its own majority in the next parliament.
The election talks were mediated by the diplomatic corps.
The opposition says that the ruling party also accepted the release of several, convicted opposition leaders, which the ruling party refuses to confirm.
Co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for the monitoring of Georgia, Titus Corlatean and Claude Kern, have stated that the March 8 election agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition ‘offers a window of opportunity for Georgia’s democratic consolidation.’
The delegation of the Council of Europe (CoE), which met with Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia earlier today, has welcomed the recent agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the opposition on how to hold the 2020 parliamentary elections, the government of Georgia press office reports.
A bill has been registered in parliament per the agreement of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the opposition on March 8.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that it is fulfilling all the conditions of the election agreement made with the opposition last week with the mediation of the diplomatic corps, responding to allegations of the opposition regarding the release of imprisoned opposition leaders and members.