PACE Refuses to Re-Grant Voting Right to Russia
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, October 11
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has refused to re-grant the voting right to Russia, which it was deprived of in 2014 due to its illegal activities and occupation of Ukrainian territories.
PACE lawmakers decided on Tuesday that the bill which provided opportunities for Russia to return back its right to vote would be referred back to the Rules Committee, which means that Russia failed to achieve its goal for now.
The return to the committee means that the PACE may re-discuss the issue in early 2019.
The Georgian delegation which attended the PACE session from the Georgian parliament stated that the organization was “under huge pressure” by Russia and its supporters to make the decision favorable for the federation.
However, they said that PACE did not allow making concessions to Russia in the situation when the country occupies the lands of independent states and refuses to withdraw its troops from the territories of Georgia and Ukraine.
“The PACE decision was a victory of PACE, Georgia, Ukraine and the delegates who were opposing the bill,” Georgian Vice Parliament Speaker Tamar Chugoshvili said.
99 lawmakers rejected the bill, while 79 voted for it. 16 abstained from voting.
Before the session, Chugoshvili stated that "Today [during the voting in PACE] we will see if Russia has supporters on one hand and how the values of the Council of Europe are supported on the other hand”.
Russia continues to claim that it is not occupant and that “it protected the interests of the local people” in Georgia and Ukraine.
