EU Parliament members congratulate Georgia on election deal between opposition, ruling party
The ruling party and the opposition agreed on March 8, 2020 to hold the upcoming elections in autumn with 120 seats in the legislative body distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system. Photo: AOP.
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Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have congratulated Georgia on the agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition on how to hold the 2020 parliamentary elections in the autumn.
We wish to congratulate all the participants of this sometimes arduous political dialogue for putting the greater interest of their country and their citizens first. Our gratitude also goes to the diplomats who have facilitated this process through their valuable mediation”– in particular the EU Ambassador to Georgia, H.E. Carl Hartzell”, reads the official statement.
MEPs call on Georgia to fully implement the agreement and to ensure that ‘the corresponding constitutional amendments are adopted swiftly by the parliament, and that the next elections are held in accordance with the recommendations issued by the OSCE/ODIHR’.
The ruling party and the opposition agreed on March 8, 2020 to hold the upcoming elections in autumn with 120 seats in the legislative body distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system.
The agreement also foresees a fair composition of election districts, a one per cent election threshold, and a cap recognising that no single party that wins less than 40 per cent of the votes should be able to form a majority in the next parliament.
Several opposition parties adopted a joint statement earlier today, after making an election deal with the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party yesterday, stating that despite the agreement on the 2020 elections, the ruling party and the opposition still fail to agree about the status of people ‘detained on political grounds.’
US Congressman Adam Kinzinger has welcomed an agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition on how to hold the 2020 elections, ‘applauding’ the efforts of all parties involved in the negotiations, ‘including Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze and the US Embassy in Georgia under Ambassador Kelly Degnan.’
Voting on a bill proposed by the Georgian Dream (GD) ruling party to change the electoral system to a fully proportional one starting from 2020 instead of 2024 has been postponed as the GD requested this. The vote will take place tomorrow as the ruling party needs another meeting “to assure” several of its MPs to vote for the bill.
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.
US Senators Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,and Jeanne Shaheen,a ranking member of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, have welcomed a recent agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition on how to hold the 2020 parliamentary elections, stating that making the deal will benefit the democratic development of the country.
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.