Three Options for New Parliament Structure

The structure of the new parliament is at the center of political confrontation, with the opposition continuing a hunger strike. The political stakes are high, with the eventual structure seen to be crucial in how seats in the legislative body are distributed.

Currently there are three options on the table: 1. Electing one majoritarian MP in each of the 75 single-mandate constituencies and distributing the remaining 75 seats in the 150-member parliament to lawmakers elected through the proportional, party-list system; 2. Electing 75 majoritarian MPs in single-mandate constituencies and increasing the number of lawmakers elected through the proportional system from 75 to 100 or 110; 3. Electing 75 majoritarian MPs in multi-mandate constituencies, instead of single-mandate constituencies, and maintaining the number of proportionally elected lawmakers at 75.

An amendment to the election code envisaging the first option – favored by the ruling party – has already been endorsed with its first hearing, but the ruling party postponed the vote at the second hearing, which was planned for March 19, till Friday. The draft is in line with the constitutional amendment that has cut the number of proportional system MPs from 100 to 75 and increased the number of majoritarian MPs from 50 to 75. This option is a source of major contention between the authorities and the opposition and was the cause of the hunger strike led by the eight-party coalition and the New Rights Party. This system is seen as a major blow for the opposition’s drive to get a majority in the new parliament.

The ruling party is better positioned to gain more seats with the single-mandate majoritarian election system, especially as the law stipulates that a candidate winning more than others and more than 30% of the vote would be declared the outright winner in the first round without the need for a runoff. The opposition Republican Party has proposed increasing the 30% threshold to 50%, but the ruling party is reluctant to agree, knowing that a potential runoff would not favor it.
 
As a compromise, the authorities have proposed a second option – to keep the rule, but to increase the number of lawmakers elected through the party-list, proportional system. The proposal, if agreed, would result in an increase in the overall number of lawmakers in the new parliament from 150 to 175, or 185.

This increase, however, will be at odds with the 2003 referendum in which voters said they wanted to have 150-member parliament. President Saakashvili made it clear on March 18 that this option would only materialize if there were cross-party consensus on the matter. Opposition agreement would mean it sharing the responsibility for overriding the will of the electorate. The Republican Party has already warned other opposition parties against accepting the proposal, suggesting that it was “a political trick” designed to “discredit the opposition.”

The second option will also require a constitutional amendment, as the constitutional envisages just 150 lawmakers. A constitutional amendment requires at least a month-long legal process before it goes into force.

The third option of electing 75 majoritarian MPs in multi-mandate constituencies, instead of single-mandate consistencies, has been proposed by the Republican Party. The proposal is similar to the rule of so-called regional proportional lists proposed earlier by the opposition. It differs, however, in that, voters would vote in multi-mandate constituencies for as many candidates as there are seats in a given constituency. The ruling party has already indicated its opposition.

The opposition coalition and the New Rights Party, both engaged in a hunger strike, have yet to clearly respond to the proposals. The Georgian daily Rezonansi wrote on March 20 that “there is no unanimous position within the opposition” on the matter, with various opposition figures making contradictory remarks.

March 20 marks the twelfth day in a hunger strike for five politicians from the eight-party coalition – three of whom are MPs. Six lawmakers from the New Rights Party camped just outside Nino Burjanadze’s office inside Parliament are on their eleventh day (MP Irakli Iashvili joined his colleagues on March 13).