Parliament Vice Speaker: tyranny, autocratic rule in Georgia was during Saakashvili's time
“Some do not seem to understand that democracy requires diversity of views. One-party rule works against it, and poses a threat of tyranny of the majority,” said Talakvadze. Photo: Archil Talakvadze/Facebook.
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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.
Ambassador Degnan said yesterday that if the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party refuses to approve the electoral bill, which would establish a two percent election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections, it might risk a ‘tyranny of the majority.’
The bill offering a lower election threshold was approved in early September on its first reading; however, two more readings are scheduled before adoption of the amendments.
The April 19 EU-mediated agreement, which resolved a political crisis after the 2020 parliamentary elections, obliged both the GD and the opposition to implement fundamental electoral and judiciary reforms, but the ruling party backed out of the agreement and therefore stated that the GD has ‘no obligation’ to support the amendments.
Talakvadze underscored that the GD had carried out ‘fundamental democratic reforms,’ noting that due to ‘these reforms today the parliament is multi-party.’
Some do not seem to understand that democracy requires diversity of views. One-party rule works against it, and poses a threat of tyranny of the majority,” said Talakvadze.
The head of the GD also responded to Ambassador Degnan by saying that the two percent threshold in elections is in only two EU countries, and that Ambassador Degnan is not an expert in constitutional law.
I am a specialist in this field - constitutional law - and I can tell you that a threshold of two percent or less is in only two EU member states and no tyranny has been formed in any of these countries. I am saying this as an expert,” Kobakhidze said.
The adoption of the bill requires the support of at least 113 MPs in the 150-member parliament, meaning that both the ruling party with 90 MPs and the opposition must support the amendments.
A total of four opposition parties, the United National Movement (UNM), Girchi, Droa and Lelo, set up a coalition several days ago to ‘fight for the adoption of constitutional amendments and snap parliamentary elections.’
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.’
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 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.’
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.