TBILISI, November 17. /TASS/. Georgia’s opposition party Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, which organized a protest rally for proportional elections in Tbilisi on Sunday, has promised to continue protests and stage such rallies across the entire country.
"We, the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, are not seeking to seize parliamentary seats. Out key goal is to spare the 2020 elections from usurpation. The Georgian Dream (the ruling party - TASS) has committed a political suicide. It acted disgracefully and the Georgian people do not deserve it. These protests will be continued in all big cities in Georgia. People will take to the streets. These protests will continue until the Georgian Dream delivers its promise and we shift to the proportional representation system," said the party’s leader and deputy speaker of Georgia’s parliament, Irma Inashvili.
The Alliance’s rally brought together hundreds of people, including activists from another opposition party, Kartuli Dasi, and the Georgian March movement. People gathered on Revolution Square to march down to the Georgian Opera and Ballet Theatre.
Another protest rally is being held in from of the parliament building. It involves thousands of activists of dozens of opposition parties, including the United National Movement. The protesters also demand proportional elections and appointment of an interim technical government. They have begun picketing the building.
Protests in Georgia
The Georgian parliament on November 14 refused to support the idea of constitutional changes concerning the 2020 parliamentary elections on the basis of a proportional system with a zero threshold. Most lawmakers from the ruling party that had initiated the bill opposed this idea.
Angry opposition and civil activists turned out for a large rally in Tbilisi in front of the parliament building. They put the blame entirely on the leader of the ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili who had announced transition from the mixed system to the proportional one ahead of the forthcoming elections. Holding elections on the basis of a proportional system was one of the demands the protesters in front of the Georgian parliament pressed for three months starting from June 20.
Immediately after the voting those members of the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party who disagreed with the outcome began to quit the party. By now, eight legislators have handed in their party membership cards. The opposition and civil activists declared open-ended protest demonstrations.
Georgia’s forthcoming parliamentary elections are due in October 2020.