Georgia to continue election discussions once state of emergency lifted

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. 

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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.