Georgia's Ruling Party Introduces Electoral Changes

Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze presented amendments drafted by the ruling team regarding the electoral legislation reform at today’s briefing.

Apart from holding the 2020 elections in a proportional system, the changes introduced by the Speaker of Parliament include changes in the party funding rules, distribution of airtime between political parties, rule of staffing the central and lower-level election commissions, the mechanism of supervising the election campaign financing, etc.

“We introduce the following amendments: based on the Constitutional Bill, a proportional system with zero thresholds will be launched from the 2020 parliamentary elections in Georgia; second, the party funding system will be replaced by a more equitable and objective model whereby a party that has at least one mandate in parliament will receive funding in accordance with votes through a new, transparent and easily understandable formula. Third, a party entering the parliament and having a different gender in every three candidates, will receive a 30% supplement”, said Talakvadze.

He added the draft amendments will require the support of the opposition and sharing of responsibility on their part.

Related Story: Government Agrees to Hold Proportional Elections in 2020

By Ana Dumbadze