German Foreign Office Welcomes Georgia’s Electoral Reform Deal

The German Federal Foreign Office welcomes March 8 electoral system reform agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition, that “paves the way to a widely accepted electoral system for the parliamentary elections in October 2020.”

“Georgia is thus taking a further positive step in its successful democratic development,” Foreign Office Spokesperson said in a statement released on March 10.

The statement stressed that the amendments agreed by the ruling and opposition parties “can make a significant contribution to further developing political pluralism and to the representation of different ideas and convictions in the political system.”

The German Foreign Office called on the signatory parties to the agreement “to play their constructive roles” in the final implementation of the agreed changes, and take into consideration the recommendations of the OSCE/ODIHR 2018 election observation mission. 

“The agreement is the outcome of three months of negotiations, which we and our international partners actively supported,” stressed the German Foreign Ministry, adding that “the willingness to compromise ultimately shown by all sides is an encouraging sign.”

German Ambassador to Georgia, Hubert Knirsch, together with his fellow diplomats from the EU Delegation to Georgia, the U.S. Embassy and the Council of Europe, was actively involved in facilitating the electoral talks between the Georgian Dream and opposition parties. Ambassador Knirsch hosted one of the four rounds of informal electoral talks that was resumed in the end of February and paved the way to March 8 agreement.

Ambassador Knirsch hailed the agreement as “a great achievement for all Georgian political parties, they all win from it.” He told Civil.ge on Monday, March 9 that “[with this agreement] Georgia will avoid impression to be slipping back on its path to democracy. This is exactly what the international partners support – they support not one or the another party, but Georgia on its way to democratic and social development.”

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