18 Georgian NGOs: ruling party ‘must keep its promise’ to support electoral bill
Georgian NGOs say that the ruling Georgian Dream party may reject an electoral bill which offers a lower election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Eighteen Georgian NGOs say in a joint statement that the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party ‘must keep its promise’ on a lower election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections and a fully proportional electoral system, and ‘must support’ the constitutional changes which were proposed in the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement.
The NGOs say that GD allegedly has plans to reject the ‘vital amendments’ following its decision to withdraw from the agreement in July of this year.
GD head Irakli Kobakhidze stated yesterday that the party ‘has no obligation’ to support the bill which was adopted on its first reading in September, noting that if the ruling party accepts the amendments ‘it will be a gift to the opposition.’
The NGOs say that the constitutional bill ‘serves state interests first of all’ and that GD must keep its promise to the public and the international community.
The approval of the bill which will lower the election threshold from five percent to two percent and ensure a fully proportional electoral system will help more parties gain seats in the state legislature,” said the NGOs.
They say that the opposition was ‘unanimous’ to support the bill on its first reading, which is ‘rare in Georgian politics.’
Rejecting the bill will further damage the polarized political environment in the country,” said the NGOs.
Kobakhidze says that the existing electoral system, which offers fully proportional elections and a five percent election threshold starting 2024, ‘is in full accordance with international standards.’
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party says that it may accept a two per cent election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections, noting that ‘it will be [a sign of] the goodwill of the GD and will be dependent on how the opposition will act.’
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Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, MP Irakli Kobakhidze has reminded the parliamentary opposition that constitutional amendments related to electoral and other issues are a result of the party’s goodwill as the GD has withdrawn from the EU-mediated agreement.The agreement signed by the ruling party and the majority of opposition parties on April 19, 2021 obliged the signatories to carry out large-scale electoral and judiciary reforms.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and a number of opposition parties have agreed on several constitutional amendments put forward in a EU-mediated compromise back in April to end months of political standoff.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that if the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party rejects an electoral bill which would establish a two percent election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections, the move may ‘risk [establishing] the tyranny of the majority.’
Georgian Parliament Vice Speaker Archil Talakvadze has responded to US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan’s statement regarding an electoral bill and stated that ‘if there was tyranny and autocratic rule’ in the country, it was under former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s government.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that she respects the experience and professionalism of the head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze in the constitutional law, but says that the party ‘should keep its promise’ and support the electoral bill which offers a two percent election threshold in the next two parliamentary elections.