New regulations for parties - Draft Law against Parliamentary Sabotage
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Friday, December 18
Georgian parliamentary majority leader Irakli Kobakhidze announced on December 17 a new bill package that envisages suspending state funding for the boycotting opposition, as well as a set of other measures against the Georgian Dream’s political rivals.
According to him, the current legislation does not provide an effective mechanism for responding to this unconstitutional action; thus, the bill aims to amend the constitutional requirement. The GEL 2,000 fine imposed by the current Electoral Code for its unconstitutional involvement in election agitation is not enough to offset the negative impact that this fact may have on the election process. Accordingly, the initiated draft law aims at correcting the shortcomings in the Election Code and proper implementation of the constitutional requirement.
“This bill, along with the implementation of the constitutional requirement, will successfully reduce the degree of polarization in Georgian politics and strengthen healthy opposition political forces," Kobakhidze said. According to him, this does not mean banning the party, which is the right of only the Constitutional Court of Georgia. The draft law is about the abolition of election registration, which will take effect at the next elections - for the first time, it will affect local self-government elections.
"The Constitution sets 4 election censors. One is the criterion of citizenship, the other - of conviction. There is also an age limit and also the so-called legal capacity, which now has a different name. If a person, who is involved in the pre-election campaign for 2 months as the leader of the election subject doesn’t satisfy the requirement for the realization of election right, the corresponding subject will not be able to register for elections, thus it does not envisage banning parties,” GD leader clarified. He said at a special briefing on December 9 that they would pass a law abolishing the party's election registration if the leader of the United National Movement, Mikheil Saakashvili, was involved in the election process.
Kobakhidze announced that the main source of polarization in Georgia is Mikheil Saakashvili, who still manages to create problems with money stolen from the people and 3 televisions.
"In the newly convened Parliament, we will register a bill to revoke the registration of a political party whose leader is unconstitutionally elected: This change will ensure not only the implementation of the constitutional requirement but also a significant change in democratic development.”
Participation of a foreign citizen in the election agitation is also prohibited by the existing legislation, however, the sanction imposed on it does not provide state prevention.
During the 2020 parliamentary elections, Mikheil Saakashvili was the UNM's candidate for Prime Minister. The party believes that the ruling party rigged the election and that new elections should be held.
The package that was also registered this week envisages the suspension of state funding for political parties that refuse from mandates or deputies miss the plenary sessions of the Parliament for illogical reasons.
According to the bill, a party whose members will lose their parliamentary mandates or who will not be involved in parliamentary work will have their state funding suspended or suspended for a year. According to the amendments to the Electoral Code, the same parties will not be able to enjoy free airtime for municipal and parliamentary elections. The amendment to the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament provides for the abolition of remuneration for those Members of Parliament who do not attend any of the plenary sessions during the month.
"Parliamentary sabotage, which is being used by members of the radical opposition and other political unions under their blackmail and bullying, is an action against the state and its democratic institutions, which requires a proper legal response,” Kobakhidze said. According to him, the bill will be approved by the parliament by the end of next week.
The cessation of state funding for political parties will not apply to funding obtained as a result of the October 31, 2020, parliamentary elections.
Asked whether funding would be cut to those parties that received state funding in the 2017 local elections, Mamuka Mdinaradze, Chairman of the Georgian Dream faction, said the new changes had nothing to do with old regulations, including when funding was tied to a qualified entity.
"In general, the legislative package is directed against parliamentary sabotage in a positive sense, to force the parties to leave the sabotage regime, to which the voters voted for parliamentary activities. The political boycott is their legally guaranteed mechanism, but sabotage is not a right,” the chairman stated.
According to Mdinaradze, the damaging parties should take responsibility for the fact that there are still 9 electoral subjects in the parliament. “They are so attached to perceptions that they did not even know that there were 14 parties in the parliament,” he said.
Mdinaradze claims that opposition rejects to enter parliament, to form a commission, investigate and hold early elections in case of one percent error because ‘they know that no rigging of the parliamentary elections, not even serious misconduct, has taken place.
According to Khatia Dekanoidze, one of the leaders of the United National Movement, the statements made today by the leader of the parliamentary majority, Irakli Kobakhidze, were blackmail and threats.
According to Dekanoidze, the ruling party wants to introduce the opposition in the Parliament, which is why it does not shy away from such ways.
Sergo Chikhladze, a member of the Strategy Builder, assesses the statement of the leader of the parliamentary majority as an attempt of threat, and believes that "such initiatives start the formulation of a one-party dictatorship, and the adoption of this law is against the constitution."
