Eight Georgian political parties have declared that they show readiness to join the Parliament in case of reaching an agreement with the government.
The political parties thank President of European Council Charles Michel, his Envoy to Georgia Christian Danielsson, Georgia's friends EU and US for their attempts and efforts to mitigate the political crisis in Georgia.
They say that the breach of the March 8 Agreement, Giorgi Rurua's imprisonment, the launch of the Gareji case by a political order aimed to demonize the opposition, political persecution of opponents, unpunished violence to the opposition during the election campaign, bribery, and use of administrative resource before the elections, so-called carousels, ballot stuffing, manipulations via minutes and organized rejection by courts to examine electoral disputes exclude any trust in the 2020 October elections.
The eight opposition parties also focus on the arrest of opposition politician Nika Melia in the aftermath of the elections, which was preceded by Ivanishvili's formal resignation, while the latter was followed by PM Giorgi Gakharia leaving his post.
"Ivanishvili and Gakharia were real and formal central figures supported by the Georgian Dream voters. It is a logical necessity and a step required for the European democratic tradition to schedule snap elections," the opposition parties claim.
They say the government strictly refuses to publicly discuss this issue, while privately, it offers to link the problem of scheduling parliamentary elections with the self-government elections' results.
"The linkage of these two principally and essentially different elections will confuse Georgian nationals in a decision-making process," the political parties say, adding they cannot accept the model.
They claim the opposition maintains a flexible position regarding the snap elections and the way to approach it.
The opposition parties say that the release of Nika Melia and Giorgi Rurua and termination of proceedings launched under a political bias will automatically resolve the problem currently.
They also talk about the election system/administration reform, adding the elections must be held under a fully-proportional, natural-threshold or approximate system as it is the only outcome to end the polarization and one-party governance.
"The rule of election administration functioning and formation should make it impossible the ruling party to dominate fully," the opposition parties claim, adding the opposition is ready to accept any mechanism that can change existing election administration and exclude the ignorance of current or future political opposition through the election administration formation process. In contrast, the rules must rule out or minimize chances to bribe or pressure voters," the statement by the eight opposition parties say.
They state the opposition offers electronic voting mechanisms and an efficient mode to ensure the voting process secrecy.
They also claim the judiciary reform is required, adding the change of a Council of Justice must initially occur.
"Power distribution in the Parliament – distribution of parliamentary control mechanisms and functions between governments and opposition is essential, but no agreement on the issue can overweigh other topics. The opposition is not interested in holding specific positions in the current Parliament, but creating a tradition for any opposition to take part in the parliamentary control efficiently," the parties' statement says.
The parties state they understand that all the political parties having received mandates should be in the Parliament, where political issues are to be resolved.
"For the implementation of the tasks mentioned at this moment, to conduct required reforms, in case of reaching an agreement with the government, we are ready to join the Parliament," the statement reads.
The statement, released by the press office of European Georgia, is signed by:
'Zura Japaridze – Girchi, More Freedom'
'Lelo'
'United National Movement'
'Progress and Freedom'
'State for People'
'National – Democratic Party.'
