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Wednesday,
July 18,
2007, #135 (1402)
On July 16, five opposition parties presented a joint memorandum calling for changes to the Georgian electoral system. The Republicans, Industrialists, Conservatives, New Rights Party and Labour Party say new rules in parliamentary elections need to be reversed and election commissions at all levels need representation from opposition parties. “We appeal to the authority of Georgia, in the interests of our country, to take steps towards civil and political consensus and free itself from narrow partisan interests and create conditions to end unhealthy confrontation and promote democratic elections in Georgia in 2008,” reads the memorandum signed by the leaders of the opposition parties on July 12. First, they want to reverse changes made to the parliamentary election code. As of 2008, the parliament will shrink from 235 to 150 seats. 50 MPs will be elected under a majoritarian, or plurality voting, system. The same system exists under the old election code, with each majoritarian MP elected from a single-member district. Under the new code, majoritarian MPs will be elected in threes from single districts, with a winner-takes-all voting system for the district. In other words, the party with a plurality of votes in a single district takes all three seats, virtually guaranteeing the nation’s leading party those 50 seats—as well as any they pick up in the proportional voting scheme for the other 100 seats. The opposition wants to see a return to the single-member majoritarian districts. In their memorandum, the opposition also called for reform in electoral commissions. Currently, central and provincial electoral commissions are composed of ostensibly non-partisan members, appointed by the ruling party. Only local electoral commissions allow representation of political parties. The opposition suggests adding seats to all electoral commissions for every party which qualifies for state financing. Seven political parties, based on their performance in the last elections, now qualify for state financing—the ruling National Movement party, the Labor Party, the Industrialists, the New Rights, the Conservative Party, the Republican Party and the political movement Tavisupleba [Freedom]. Conservative Party MP Kakha Kukava says his coalition’s proposed changes will smooth relations between ruling and opposition parties. “We think that the reason for the political crisis in our country is because parties that lose the elections think there was fraud involved, and voters tend to think the same way,” Kukava said. He argues their proposed changes will address this issue and reduce allegations of unfair elections. The opposition parties claim the international community will support their requests. “We are working side-by-side with international organizations and the diplomatic corps, and hope we have their support,” New Rights MP Mamuka Katsitadze says. The ruling party responds that they, too, are working on improvements to the election code. “Improving the election code is an ongoing process and we are doing it based on our desire to continue the democratization of our country—not based on somebody’s ultimatums and requests,” ruling party MP Davit Bakradze says. Opposition members dismiss the ruling party’s proposals as minor tweaks. Election code changes will be debated throughout the summer, but all parties hope an agreement will be reached before long. Campaigning for next year’s elections can then begin in earnest. |
