The EU Ambassador to Georgia, Carl Hartzell, welcomed on Sunday 8 March the agreement between the main political parties on the constitutional amendments related to the electoral system in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The parties also signed a joint declaration stressing the need to avoid actions that could be perceived as an inappropriate politicisation of the country’s judicial and electoral processes.
“An agreement in dialogue! A crucial step towards depolarisation in the interest of the Georgian people and the country. Congratulations to all!” said Mr Hartzell on Twitter.
For his part, the spokesman for the European External Action Service (EEAS) described the agreement on Monday 9 March as “very welcome, important and visible signal of political leadership from all sides which reflects a desire to decrease the unhealthy political polarisation in Georgia. We congratulate all the signatories as they have put the interests of the Georgian citizens and the consolidation of Georgia’s democracy first”, he added.
The EU, Germany, the Council of Europe and the United States, which facilitated the three-month-long negotiations, acknowledged in a joint statement that the agreement was “a stepping stone on the road to democracy in Georgia”. “We trust that all sides will adhere to the agreement and ensure its successful adoption in the Parliament in the coming weeks and later on effective implementation”, they added. The EEAS spokesperson also called on all parties to respond promptly and fully to the OSCE/ODIHR recommendations following the last elections.
The ruling “Georgian Dream’ party and the opposition agreed to hold the next parliamentary elections in October, with 120 seats in the Assembly distributed by proportional representation and the remaining 30 by majority vote.
See the Memorandum of Understanding: http://bit.ly/39EgExY (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)