The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Georgia have expressed their deep regret at the failure of the Georgian Parliament to pass the Constitutional amendments required to introduce a fully proportional election system for the 2020 parliamentary elections.

“We deplore the lack of support for these amendments. The introduction of a proportional system has been called for by all stakeholders for more than a decade, and its introduction was long overdue,” said Titus Corlatean (Romania, SOC) and Claude Kern (France, ALDE).

“In the light of the clear consensus by all stakeholders on the need to introduce this system before the 2020 parliamentary elections, the failure of the amendments to pass is incomprehensible. This is a step backwards,” added the co-rapporteurs.

They called on all political forces, and particularly the ruling majority, to explore ways in which these amendments could still be passed before the coming elections.