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Georgian government, opposition unable to agree on electoral reform

The deputy premier added that the government is ready to meet with the opposition again and to discuss a new electoral initiative

TBILISI, November 31. /TASS/. The Georgian government and opposition’s effort to agree on holding parliamentary elections under a new system in 2020 produced no result on Saturday, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Thea Tsulukiani told reporters.

"The opposition has been suggesting the so-called German election model. During our meeting, we held a very profound discussion of their proposal, including its legal and political aspects. Our stance remains unchanged, we believe that this model is unconstitutional, and this fact makes further debates on the issue impossible," Tsulukiani told journalists after the meeting that lasted six hours and was mediated by foreign diplomats.

The deputy premier added that the government is ready to meet with the opposition again and to discuss a new electoral initiative.

"If there will be any other proposal - and our foreign colleagues have already made hints to the possibility - and if those proposals are within the framework of the current constitution, then, naturally, the [ruling] Georgian Dream Coalition will take the trouble to sit at the negotiating table again," she stressed.

Ex-foreign minister Grigol Vashadze, who chairs the United National Movement opposition party, said the opposition was ready to continue dialogue, but the protests and demonstrations that began more than two weeks ago and continue to date with varying intensity, will continue.

On Friday, about 30 opposition parties came up with a joint bill to introduce a new parliamentary election system, based on Germany’s legislative polls, without amending the constitution.

The proposal says that the country’s Election Code should be amended to change the formula, under which parliamentary seats are allocated.

The government opposes the proposal, because the Georgian Constitution clearly states that the parliament has 150 lawmakers: 77 elected by proportional representation and 73 - under the majoritarian system. According to the incumbent authorities, any other formula to distribute mandates will constitute a breach of the country’s main law.

The opposition plans to send its proposal to the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe, asking international experts in constitutional law to check the initiative’s compliance with the Georgian Constitution.

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 took to the streets for a major 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 proportional in June 2020. Elections under the proportional system was one of the demands the protesters in front of the Georgian parliament have been pressing since June 20. On November 17, the protesters blocked the parliament for the first time. On the following day, riot police used water cannons and tear gas to clear the approaches to the parliament building from the protesters. After the crackdown, the opposition announced another grassroots rally on November 25. Over the past week, demonstrators have been attaching chains and locks to the gates of state buildings.