9th MP leaves ruling party after parliament’s rejection of election bill
Giorgi Begadze is the majoritarian MP of the ruling party in Rustavi, a town close to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi. Photo: Giorgi Begadze's Facebook page
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Giorgi Begadze is the ninth MP to leave the Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party after the recent rejection of the GD-proposed election bill.
Begadze is the majoritarian MP of the ruling party in Rustavi, a town close to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi.
I was confident that we would have managed to keep the promise that we had given to [our] population and the international community!” he wrote on his Facebook page late on Thursday.
Taken the existing reality into account, I have to make a very difficult decision”, he further wrote.
Vice Parliament Speaker of Georgia Tamar Chugoshvili, MPs Irina Pruidze, Giorgi Mosidze, Dimitri Tskitishvili, Tamar Khulordava, Sophio Katsarava, Zaza Khutsishvili and Mariam Jashi left the Georgian Dream earlier as well.
The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Georgia have expressed their “deep regret” that the Georgian Dream ruling party proposed bill, which aimed to introduce a fully proportional election system starting in 2020, was rejected earlier today.
Mariam Jashi, head of the Parliament’s Education, Culture and Science Committee, is the eighth MP to leave the Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party after today’s rejection of the GD-proposed election bill.
The founder and head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili says that he has been supportive of a transition to a fully proportional election system from 2020 and is “very sorry” the GD-proposed bill was rejected earlier today.
Vice Parliament Speaker of Georgia Tamar Chugoshvili, MPs Irina Pruidze, Giorgi Mosidze, Dimitri Tskitishvili, Tamar Khulordava, Sophio Katsarava and Zaza Khutsishvili have left the Georgian Dream ruling party after the party proposed election bill was scrapped earlier today. The bill which offered the conduct of 2020 parliamentary elections with a fully proportional voting system and a zero threshold has been voted for by 101 MPs instead of mandatory 113 earlier today.
Georgian opposition parties and young civic activists who participated in June’s anti-occupation rallies have set out their main demands after the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party proposed election bill was scrapped on Thursday.
US Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of the initiators of the US Support Act to Georgia, has stated that that the failure [of the Georgian parliament] to deliver constitutional amendment [on Thursday] will be a gift for Russian President Vladimir Putin.“The failure will destroy the progress Georgia has made to reach complete independence and separation from an aggressive, encroaching neighbor in Russia,” Kinzinger wrote.
Three MPs of the Conservative party have left the Georgian Dream ruling party after the parliament rejected the ruling party proposed election bill yesterday on the transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2020.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell has met with the head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili and Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze to “find solutions” after the rejection of the ruling party proposed election bill in parliament yesterday. Hartzell stated that the EU expected tension to follow the rejection of the bill.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party says that public trust and support and not electoral systems wins elections, responding to the tension triggered after the rejection of the GD proposed election bill yesterday, offering the transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2020 instead of 2024.“The election reform is still in progress, and with the maximal fulfilment of OSCE recommendations, it will lead to even more transparent and fair election environment for the next year,” Talakvadze said.
Four individuals protesting the decision of the Georgian parliament yesterday to reject a bill that would provide for fully proportional elections in the country were detained by the building of the Adjara regional government and later released by a judge in the Black Sea city of Batumi.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has nominated candidates for parliamentary posts after 12 of its MPs left the party in the wake of the rejection of the GD-proposed election bill on November 14.
MP of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Aleksandre Erkvania has announced he is leaving the ruling party, citing the rejection of the GD-proposed election bill as one of the reasons.