Parliament adopts self-governance law
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The self-governance law has been adopted by the Georgian Parliament, with the majority voting in favour.
Today, 84 MPs voted in favour and 14 voted against.
The new laws were agreed during the second listening. The most controversial issue surrounded the rules relating to the number of public servant staff.
As they could not agree, the Parliament members adopted the self-governance codex without this article.
This issue is set to be discussed in near future.
The Parliamentary minority suggested an alternative version of the self-governance codex, but this was dismissed with 45 votes to 17.
The self-governance lawsmostly referred to the "self-governing cities.” According to the self-governance Bill, number of self-governing cities will increase as towns with 15,000 residents or more will automatically become eligible for the status of self-governing city.
The mayors of these cities will be directly elected by voters. Currently there are five self-governing cities; Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, Rustavi and Poti however only in Tbilisi the Mayor is elected directly by voters.
Head of Parliament’s legal committee, Vakhtang Khmaladze, said despite the recent changes to the constitution, additional changes still needed to be made.
The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) NGO says the resignation of four mayors in the cities of Kaspi, Terjola, Oni and Kutaisi may have been caused by pressure exerted on them by the central government or the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party.