GD Hopes to See All Elected Opposition Parties in the Parliament

OP-ED 

On 4 October, 2020 the Georgian Dream party leaders met the OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission to discuss post-election situation in Georgia in the run up to the second round of voting for the 16 majoritarian mandates, to be held on 21 November.

In contrary to opposition’s statements, international observer stating that “the 31 October parliamentary elections were competitive and, overall, fundamental freedoms were respected”. The joint assessment was shared by international community and diplomatic corps in Georgia.

Some findings were identified as pressing by the election observation missions, among them few cases of “vague line” between the government and the political party were detected at the local government level in the municipal districts across the country. Several cases of vote buying and bribery were also encountered by international and local observers, taking place from both, the ruling party and opposition affiliated individuals, e.g.: out of 7 cases of bribery reported by the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), 2 cases were associated with the GD affiliates, while the rest of 5 involved the opposition. The “abundant and unlimited campaign spending” posed another major concern for the international observers. “We urge Georgian politicians and the new Georgian Parliament to meet as soon as possible our persistent recommendations to improve the legal framework regarding oversight of campaigns. I’m sure you’re able to do it, what is needed is political will to do so,” noted the Head of the election observation mission of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Tiny Kox, at a joint press conference with the OSCE/ODIHR and NATO PA missions.

Despite much efforts conducted by the Georgian Dream party to address the aforementioned concerns during the previous years, improvement remains necessary in some aspects, such as the execution of the legal framework for campaign financing and oversight. In this respect, it must be mentioned, that in a number of cases opposition represents the main obstacle for having stricter rules and procedures in place. The Georgian Dream stands ready to tackle the concerns raised by international and local observers as soon as the political process resumes in the legislature.

“We certainly hope that, in the end, all political parties will be presented in the 10th convocation of the Parliament,” said the GD Executive Secretary, Irakli Kobakhidze.

For the first time in recent history of Georgia, parliamentary elections were held in a substantially proportional system introduced by the Georgian Dream political party through the sweeping constitution reform conducted in 2017-2019 years. In over 20 years, 8 opposition parties have made it through the symbolic 1% threshold and gained seats in the Georgian Parliament.

Despite the archived multiparty representation revealed by the preliminary voting results announced by the Central Election Commission, the opposition continues to boycott the results of the elections, demands a snap election and alleges that elections were neither free nor it did it reflect the will of the Georgian voters.