Electoral system in Georgia - Constitutional amendment bill rejected

People in Georgia are calling for the electoral system to be transitioned to a proportional electoral system. 

However, after the government promised this important change, on 14 November 2019, the Parliament of Georgia rejected a bill on Constitutional amendments to the electoral system in the first reading. Of the 141 Members of Parliament registered for the plenary session, 101 MPs including opposition lawmakers supported the bill, and 3 voted against it. The required quorum was 113 votes, and therefore the MPs failed to approve the bill in the first reading.

The bill, drafted by 93 lawmakers, proposes changes to the Constitution, so that the October 2020 parliamentary elections will be conducted under a proportional electoral system, with a zero barrier.

Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze said after the plenary session that the parliamentary elections will be held with a 3% barrier, blocs, and a mixed system, after the Parliament did not support transtition to a proportional system for the 2020 parliamentary elections.

Due to the decision, six members of the parliamentary majority resigned. Vice Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili said, “This change was of principled importance to us … we have no other option but to leave our parliamentary positions and the parliamentary majority, as the failure of this Constitutional amendment is a very difficult issue on which we cannot take responsibility.”

The people of Georgia were not happy with the parliamentary decision, resulting in public demonstrations on 17 November 2019. 

The building of the Georgian parliament was picketed, and every entrance was blocked by demonstrators. MPs could not enter the building. One of the leaders of the United Opposition, Giorgi Vashadze, told reporters that the activists and opposition leaders will stay outside the parliament’s building all night long in protest of the current government, the Georgian Dream.

Demonstrators wrote “Change” and “Go” on the asphalt in front of the Georgian DreamTeam party office.

Demonstrators say they will remain in place in day and night shifts and the legislative building will remain picketed if their demands are not satisfied.They are now calling for early snap elections.

“We will not allow Bidzina Ivanishvili's personal staff to enter this building. If they want to sit in this building, they will have to hold early proportional elections,” said one of the demonstrators.

The government calls the blocking of MPs to enter state institutions as illegal. Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze explained why Georgia has to change its mixed electoral system in favor of the proportional system. At the United States Congress of Democratic Partnership Leaders Forum Talakvadze discussed the ongoing democratic reforms in Georgia. 

According to Talakvadze, the reforms are crucial for Georgian democracy: “Georgia has progressed from a super-presidential government to a more stable parliamentary republic. The existing Constitutional structure was insecure and did not have the control and balance mechanisms between the branches of the government. This Constitutional reform to a proportional system will increase the role of the parliament significantly and it will lead to a more substantial, result-oriented political system.”

The current government promised the Constitutional amendment that would switch Georgia to fully proportional electoral system from 2020, but this is now not the case. Demonstrators are calling for the modification of the current mixed voting system to resemble the ‘German model.’ The current government say that the German model contradicts the Georgian Constitution.

Several NGOs have released a joint statement claiming that the German electoral model can successfully merge with the Georgian Constitution. “The modified version of the ‘German model’ does not contradict the Constitution of Georgia for the following reasons: according to the current version of the Constitution, 77 MPs will be elected through proportional and 73 MPs through a majoritarian election system in the next parliamentary elections. The Constitution defines only the number of the proportional and majoritarian mandates. The rule for distribution of seats in both components is defined by the Election Code of Georgia, which provides distribution of seats in the proportional component independently of the majoritarian one. This circumstance allows the modified option of the ‘German model’ of a mixed electoral system to be launched for the next parliamentary elections of Georgia through making the amendments to the Election Code so as not to alter the evenness of proportional and majoritarian seats in the Parliament, determined by the Constitutional of Georgia,” the statement reads.

“The German electoral system is about proportion. Holding to the limitation of absolutism as the axiomatic principle, the German model entails a type of mixed-member proportional electoral system. It gives voters the opportunity to choose both the majoritarian MP and the party list. In parliament, the distribution of seats between parties and the election blocs is based on the votes received through the proportional system.”

Due to the joint standpoint of the demonstrators and the NGOs, there is no controversy in the replacement of the current electoral system with the modified version of the German model. On the contrary, the act will allow fairer distribution of parliamentary mandates in line with both the European standards of electoral law and Georgian Constitutionalism. The statement is signed by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Transparency International Georgia, the Georgian Young Lawyer's Association, and the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center.

The European Union (EU) Delegation and the United States Embassy to Georgia released the following statement regarding ongoing events in Tbilisi. "The Embassy of the United States of America and the Delegation of the European Union to Georgia recognize the deep disappointment of a wide segment of Georgian society at the failure of Parliament to pass the Constitutional amendments required to move to fully proportional parliamentary elections in 2020.”

“The decision taken last summer to accelerate the transition to proportional elections was understood as an important step forward in Georgia’s democracy, and there was a political consensus behind it and a joint commitment from all sides to work towards this end. The unexpected halting of this process last Thursday has increased mistrust and heightened tensions between the ruling party and other political parties and civil society. In view of the current situation, we consider it essential to immediately work to restore trust through a calm and respectful dialogue between the government and all political parties and civil society with a view to finding an acceptable path forward.”

“We fully support the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. We call on all parties exercising this right to do so in a lawful manner and within the framework of the Constitution. We encourage all sides to act in the country’s best interests," the official European Union and United States Embassy statement reads.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author  of: Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).