• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Georgian Opposition Protests Ruling Party's Refusal To Change Electoral System

By RFE/RL's Georgian Service November 25, 2019

TBILISI -- Several thousand people have gathered in the center of the Georgian capital after the ruling party ruled out electoral reforms despite opposition protests.

Supporters of opposition groups marched from Tbilisi's Republic Square to the parliament building on November 25, blocking traffic in Rustaveli Avenue, the city's main thoroughfare.

Earlier in the day, the ruling Georgian Dream party refused to change electoral regulations from a mixed system to a proportional one from 2020.

Its secretary-general, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, said after a party meeting that "the issue is closed and there will be no changes in the electoral system."

The matter has been a hot topic for weeks after a constitutional amendment on the transition to a proportional electoral system was rejected by parliament on November 14.

The reform was one of the demands of thousands of demonstrators who rallied for weeks in Tbilisi in June and July and then again in recent weeks.

One of the protests was violently dispersed by police on November 18 with 37 protesters arrested in the demonstration.

The legislature currently has proportional representation for about half of the body's seats, a system which opposition parties say unfairly favors the Georgian Dream party.

Concern that the new protest could spill over into violence has risen among Western diplomats.

After 20,000 people rallied in Tbilisi on November 17, the United States and the European Union called on the Georgian government, political parties, and civil society to engage in a "calm and respectful dialogue."

An EU delegation to Georgia and the U.S. Embassy said in a joint statement on November 17 that they "recognize the deep disappointment of a wide segment of Georgian society at the failure of parliament to pass the constitutional amendments."

The halting of the transition to proportional elections "has increased mistrust and heightened tensions between the ruling party and other political parties and civil society," the statement said.

The vote has also prompted criticism from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-s-ruling- party-rules-electoral-system-change-despite- violent-opposition-protests/30290824.html

Copyright (c) 2019. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.