Parliamentary Speaker explains constitutional changes for 2020 elections
Currently Georgia has a mixed electoral system with 77 seats in its 150-member parliament allocated proportionally under the party-list. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Tweet 
Share
The Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Archil Talakvadze explained in details the ruling Georgian Dream party’s bill on holding the parliamentary elections in 2020 with a fully proportional voting system, with zero entry threshold.
Talakvadze chaired the parliamentary group working on election reform yesterday. He said at a news briefing ahead of the meeting that the ruling party had announced of switching to the fully proportional system of elections in 2024.
However, life has made changes to the timeframes and in line with the clear and bald initiative of society and particularly youths, we, as a democratic and responsible political team, took steps in response”, he stated.
Talakvadze said with its bill the ruling party aims:
- to make politics more democratic, balanced and calm
- reduce polarisation
- leave more space for cooperation and business-like discussions
All 100 legislators of the Georgian Dream ruling party are ready to support proportional voting system in the 2020 parliamentary elections. Photo: Georgian Dream press office
What does the bill proposed by the Georgian Dream consider?
Arcil Talakvadze said "the system of funding parties will be replaced with a fairer and more objective model".
- The party that wins at least one seat in parliament, will receive funding commensurate with the votes won in an election according to a new, transparent and easily understandable formula.
- The parties that enter parliament on the basis of a party list, where one of each three candidates will be of a different gender, will continue to receive a 30-per-cent surplus.
- Free time on the air will be distributed equally to political parties. One party will be unable to cede their time to another party. Participation in TV debates will be equally accessible.
He also announced that 5,000 signatures will be needed to register a party and the ballot papers will be regarded as “invalid” of no electoral entity is marked or more than one electoral entity are marked.
We have the political will and readiness to carry out this important political reform”, Talakvadze said stressing the need for “support from the opposition and sharing the responsibility on their part”.
Speaker Talakvadze said this is exactly why the working group is holding meetings “where a broad representation is ensured”.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
On June 24, the Georgian Dream ruling party announced that the 2020 parliamentary elections will be conducted on the proportional electoral system, which has been one of the top demands of demonstrators gathered in Tbilisi since June 20.
The ruling party presented the format of the upcoming proportional vote on July 2 and stated all legislators of the Georgian Dream ruling party will support the proportional voting system in 2020.
The opposition refused to attend the presentation but vowed to participate in all activities dedicated to the issue.
What is Georgia's current election system like?
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 new constitution of Georgia, which was adopted in 2017, and which came into play after last year’s presidential elections, reads that Georgia moved to fully proportional elections from 2024, which have been hailed as “unfair” by the opposition.
15 opposition parties have addressed new Parliamentary Speaker Archil Talakvadze and demanded that the parliamentary group working on election reform be expanded. The opposition says that the list of the parties involved in the working group should be revised and the reform group should be of a more inclusive nature.
All 100 legislators of the Georgian Dream ruling party are ready to support proportional voting system in the 2020 parliamentary elections. However, the change, which has been long demanded by the opposition, requires at least 113 votes in the 150-member parliament, General Secretary of the Georgian Dream ruling party Kakha Kaladze said earlier today.
The European Georgia and the United National Movement opposition parties have refused to attend the presentation at 2 p.m., when the Georgian Dream ruling party will propose the changes in the constitution for Georgia to have fully proportional voting in the 2020 parliamentary elections, the electoral system have demanded by the opposition for years.
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.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze introduced the 10 top issues that the legislators will be discussing during the autumn session, including election and judicial reform, European and Euro-Atlantic integration, parliamentary oversight, state budget for 2020, territorial integrity and anti-occupation policy, environment and ecology, children’s rights, support for business and agriculture.
The Georgian parliamentary minority has vowed to support the Georgian Dream ruling party bill on moving to fully proportional elections from 2020 as they fear that the ruling party may reject its own bill and retain the mixed-electoral system for next year's parliamentary elections. The decision of the United National Movement and the European Georgia opposition parties to support the ruling party bill “anyway” comes after the statement of several MPs of the Georgian Dream.
The Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party says that most of its MPs will vote for the party-proposed bill to transfer to a fully proportional elections in 2020 parliamentary race amid fears of the opposition that the bill may be scrapped. After today’s meeting of the ruling party, chaired by the head and the founder of the Georgian Dream Bidzina Ivanishvili, GD MPs said that Ivanishvili and the “majority” of the party support the bill.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that if Georgian political parties fail to retain consensus on the ruling Georgian Dream party proposed election bill this may “shake trust” between political parties.