Georgia's Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said that the the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party has decided to hold proportional parliamentary elections starting from next year.
The PM noted that proportional elections are an “essential step” for the democratic development of the country and “I hope that each MP will fully share the responsibility assumed towards the democratic development of the country and each citizen of Georgia when voting.”
According to him, the ruling party “has a solid position” on the bill. "We have already stated our position and I will repeat it again that proportional elections with a zero threshold was the will and decision of our political team, which was certainly a response to the urge for accelerated development of democratic process in the country. Nothing has changed in this regard,” Agenda.ge cited Gakhria as saying.
Parliament is scheduled to vote on the first reading of the election bill later today. The vote was meant to have taken place yesterday but was postponed as the ruling party requested a brief delay.
The opposition say that they will vote for the bill as they fear that the ruling party may scrap the bill and retain the mixed electoral system for the 2020 parliamentary race.
