Gov't & Opposition Comment on their Second Meeting

The second meeting between the government and opposition parties aimed at discussing proposals for the electoral system was held on December 8.

The representatives of the ruling party Georgian Dream and opposition made comments before and after the meeting, assessing their expectations and results of the dialogues and negotiations between the sides. 

"There are signs that we are returning to a normal political process," Speaker of the Parliament Archil Talakvadze told reporters before the meeting, which was also attended by diplomatic corps accredited to Georgia.

“This meeting aims to get acquainted with the proposals of the opposition. We will have our arguments. If there are any specific proposals by the opposition, we will ask for time to prepare and introduce answers at the next meeting. There are signs that we are returning to a normal political process. Dialogue is good for that. I, as the Speaker of the Parliament, welcome the dialogue between our political party and the opposition, and this format, where non-parliamentary and parliamentary opposition, as well as our international partners, are represented, I think it is the optimal one,” he said. 

"The ice has started melting, but public and our trust in the Georgian Dream is at zero, usually is known for its lies," Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of the “New Georgia” party, said, adding the 'Georgian Dream' has exhausted itself and "the time of their departure is coming."

After the meeting, he noted that no agreement was reached during the discussion and the meeting ended without significant results. 

“No agreement has been reached. There are no positive results. Since the parties have been unable to agree on anything for two rounds, international mediators removed the component of the multi-mandate constituency from our document and told us to consider this component separately. The opposition has no problem discussing the electoral system and principles according to the components,” he said. 

Davit Usupashvili, the leader of the Development Movement, said that they discussed the issue of distribution of 73 majoritarian mandates and election rules, however, "the government had no opinion."

"The conversation continued about how to get out of the crisis. The previous meeting was mainly dedicated to the constitutionality of the proportional part of the so-called German model and we could not agree. So the document will be sent tomorrow to Vienna, then to Warsaw. We discussed other components of the offer today. Specifically, the distribution of 73 majoritarian seats and election rules. We had an exchange of views on these topics, but the government has no opinion on this issue either. We offer multi-majoritarian parliamentary constituencies, where each voter has one vote. The authorities will come with answers at the next meeting. We are open to hearing a better solution to the current situation in the country. Today, the authorities presented nothing new,” he added. 

The next meeting will be held in the format of the opposition today, where the leaders will discuss new components of the action plan. 

By Ana Dumbadze