PM Gakharia on passing of election bill: Georgia takes another important step to ensure its Euro-Atlantic future
Georgian Prime Minister has responded to the adoption of the election bill. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that through the passing of the election bill earlier today, ‘Georgia has taken another important step to ensure its European and Euro-Atlantic future.’
The new electoral system which was adopted demonstrates the Georgian Dream's strong will to consistently implement the most important changes for the country, which no other political force has been able to achieve, and which serves to further consolidate a European parliamentary democracy in Georgia,” Gakharia said.
He stated that the parties who refused to vote for the bill did so because of their ‘egoism and narrow political interests and they justify [their refusal to vote for the bill because of a factual, criminal case]...the move will not work in the eyes of the Georgian people.’
Georgia will ensure high-class, free, fair and democratic elections in the autumn. I expect the country’s enemies will not be in the future parliament,” Galharia said.
Ruling party says that all its 92 MPs participated in the vote and voted for the bill per the M,arch 8 election agreement. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
The ruling Georgian Dream party says that the adoption of the bill ‘concluded the March 8 election agreement’ signed and agreed to by all of Georgia’s political parties via a Memorandum of Understanding and a Joint Statement, ‘both brokered and strongly supported by representatives of the United States, the European Union, Germany, and the Council of Europe.’
The Georgian Dream says that foreign ambassadors urged all Georgian political parties to abide by the agreement and move expeditiously to enact constitutional amendments that ‘codify electoral reform.’
The opposition factions United National Movement and European Georgia refused to participate in the vote despite the emphatic urging to do so by Western ambassadors and governments,” says the ruling party.
The party said that due to the government’s ‘rapid and decisive response’ to the global pandemic, Georgia has been cited by global leaders and institutions for its effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, Georgia’s leading health official announced that the current epidemiological situation in Georgia will allow elections to be held in October 2020,” the party started.
The opposition continues to accuse the ruling party of nit fully abiding the March 8 election agreement. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
Ruling party MP Irakli Kobakhodze said that unlike the opposition the ruling party ‘fully abided by the March 8 election agreement.’
Today the country has the only loser: the destructive, radical and criminal opposition which rudely violated the March 8 election agreement,” Kobakhidze said.
The opposition says that the ruling Georgian Dream party and its founder Bidzina Ivanishvili are ‘responsible’ for the opposition’s refusal to vote for the bill.
They say that the ruling party 'refuses to fully abide’ by the March 8 election agreement and release co-founder of opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua.
The opposition also says that the ruling party ‘was forced’ to pass the changes ‘due to international pressure.’
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.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the united opposition have reached an agreement 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 Georgian parliament has passed the election bill drafted with the mediation of the diplomatic corps in its third and final reading earlier today. 117 MPs voted for and three went against the bill which will institute a more proportional electoral system for this autumn’s parliamentary elections. The United National Movement and European Georgia opposition parties refused to participate in the vote, stating that with the continued incarceration of the co-founder of opposition-minded TV channel Giorgi Rurua, the ruling party ‘did not fully abide by the March 8 election agreement.’
Foreign ambassadors who facilitated the election talks between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition, resulting in the March 8 election agreement, have welcomed the adoption of the election bill in its third and final reading earlier today.
The Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has signed the bill of amendments to the election system, calling the constitutional changes a serious step towards democracy and stability. The Georgian parliament has passed an election bill drafted with the mediation of the diplomatic corps in its third and final reading earlier today.
High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell Fontelles, has welcomed the adoption of the constitutional amendments by the Georgian parliament yesterday.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia says that the historic political process of adopting constitutional amendments to Georgia’s electoral system ‘must culminate in democratic, transparent elections.’
Ruling party MP, former parliament speaker Irakli Kobakhidze says that international observers will be able to monitor the autumn parliamentary elections in Georgia, responding to speculations that the government is ‘deliberately maintaining’ travel restrictions to create obstacles for international observers.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has stated in his speech for the UN’s 75th anniversary that Georgia ‘has always been and remains to this day a nation committed to Western values, which naturally harmonized Western and Eastern cultures and civilizations on Georgian soil’.