Ivanishvili: I Am Disappointed that Electoral Amendments Initiative Failed

As the leader of the ruling political force, I reaffirm my support for the transition to a proportional electoral system by 2020 and I sincerely regret that it has failed, - reads the statement of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the Chairman of the Georgian Dream party.

In his statement, Ivanishvili claims that when the discussion of the initiative was almost over and the issue was being voted on, members of the National Movement insulted the majority MPs directly in the parliament hall, which could not be tolerated by a large number of the majoritarians.

“Today, as our country is on the path of democratic development, I, as the leader of the ruling political party, consider it necessary to respond to the processes that took place in parliament these days.

"I am disappointed that in the end, our initiative failed. Unfortunately, the Georgian Parliament rejected it due to the opposition of one part of the Georgian Dream, mostly majoritarians.

"Society has a question: how did the so-called ‘majoritarian rebellion’ develop so quickly in the ruling team after the constitutional process was successfully completed and the issue was brought to the vote? In order to fully answer this question and avoid speculation, I consider it necessary to remind the public of the following indisputable facts:

"The decision to switch to a proportional electoral system was initiated by the Georgian Dream political team as early as 2017 in the framework of a constitutional reform during an aggressive boycott organized by the opposition spectrum, non-governmental sector and party media. Relevant amendments were drafted, only at the expense of the votes of the parliamentary majority of the ruling party. The National Movement then boycotted the process when we adopted a truly European constitution instead of a single leader and one political force, which the entire international community unequivocally praised.

“It is no secret that the idea of switching to a proportional electoral system has never been popular among majoritarian MPs, and most have never been enthusiastic about reform, so our desire to abolish the mixed electoral system by 2020 failed to create an internal party consensus. Accordingly, a compromise decision was made to move to a proportional electoral system in 2024.”

“This despite the events of this summer [the June 20 protest] and the fact that the public protest was adequately responded to by the ruling team, ie., the Chairman of Parliament assumed political responsibility and resigned, while the Georgian Dream came up with an important initiative to hold the 2020 parliamentary elections in the proportional system, with a zero barrier.

"I will not hide that I was the author of this initiative and the team, in spite of the hesitation of some majoritarians, supported this idea and the majority of majoritarians followed the party discipline.”

“We hoped that our brave political move would be perceived positively by other actors involved in the process and that we would receive a constructive response.

"Unfortunately, it didn't happen.

"The statements and actions of the United National Movement and its satellites made it clear that the Georgian Dream's attempt to bring the country's political culture to a new level was only a one-sided desire. The endless destruction, attempts to create chaos in the country and Church, aggressive rhetoric, cynicism, jealousy and personal insults - this is how the irresponsible opposition and its satellite organizations responded to our initiative,” Ivanishvili says.

He goes on to claim that the disagreement within the ruling team “did not begin today or yesterday.” However, the ruling party leader notes that he, along with other leaders, have made great efforts to reverse the process.

“However, the opposition did its best to break the fragile consensus that our team reached in the summer,” his statement reads.

“There are many skeptics in our country, but no one can escape the facts, and the fact is that our team has achieved not a false but a real democracy, which eliminates any attempt to change one's own principled position by force. We have given up on the monolithic, administrative-commanding style of both the Soviet and National Movements in the past when no one was acting against a single leader. There is a natural process of difference and discussion in our team, and our society has seen many examples of it.”

“Lastly, there are no perfect election systems. It is well-known that in the civilized world there is endless discussion of the good and bad sides of any system. Panacea is not an electoral system, but a democracy, an institutionally organized political system that should provide for the main thing: the source of power is the people and their will must be reflected in the election results.

"As the leader of the ruling political force, I reaffirm my support for the transition to a proportional electoral system by 2020, and I am truly sorry that this has not happened - with my team and government, I can guarantee that Georgia's democratic development process will be irreversible. Free and fair elections in 2020 will be a precondition and a clear example of this,” Bidzina Ivanishvili concluded.

By Ana Dumbadze 

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