Georgian Dream Moves to End Voting Abroad for Georgian Citizens
By Liza Mchedlidze
Tuesday, November 18, 2025
The ruling Georgian Dream party plans to end voting for Georgian citizens living abroad. Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said the change will protect elections from foreign influence, but critics warn it will cut many emigrants out of the voting process.
During a briefing on November 17, Papuashvili announced a proposal to amend the Electoral Code so that voting in parliamentary elections can take place only inside Georgia, just as it already does for local elections.
Papuashvili said the change fits the state's duty to ensure the free expression of a voter's will. He argued that this freedom "also implies that this will must be expressed free from external interference."
He said that elections in many countries have become more vulnerable to outside influence and referred to recent votes in the United States and European Union. According to him, Georgia's 2024 parliamentary elections "clearly showed how open and blatant foreign informational and political pressure on voters can be."
Papuashvili told reporters that the highest risks apply to citizens who live abroad. He said these voters are exposed to "a foreign jurisdiction and political environment where the Georgian state cannot prevent interference."
He also argued that Georgians living abroad depend heavily on "filtered information" from the media and lack the "unfiltered information" people receive when living inside the country. The two, he said, can be "radically contradictory," which, in his words, "creates a higher risk that a citizen who is physically detached from the country will make an uninformed choice."
Papuashvili said that limiting voting to Georgia "increases the resilience of elections, reduces the influence of external actors, and ensures a more adequate, informed choice." He insisted the proposal "fully complies with international standards" and said similar rules exist in Ireland, Malta, Israel and Armenia.
He added that "nothing changes in the voting rights of citizens living abroad," saying that the only requirement is for citizens to "come to the homeland once every four years and cast a ballot in Georgia."
The proposal drew immediate criticism. The announcement comes as protesters continue to demand a rerun of the parliamentary elections.
