Constitutional amendments have been adopted

The Constitutional amendments have been approved in the third reading by 117 votes to 3. 120 MPs registered for voting, so there were no problems with the quorum.

The opposition did not participate in the discussion and voting today. Members of the European Georgia and United National Movement stated that they would support these amendments only in case of release of the political prisoner Giorgi Rurua.

Recall that the constitutional amendments related to the changes in the electoral process were approved by the Parliament in the second reading on June 23 with 115 votes against three.

Previously, the Parliament had adopted the bill in the first reading with 136 votes against 5. From the opposition, only European Georgia supported the amendments to prevent the failure of the constitutional changes and to give the government additional time to release Rurua.

According to the draft amendments, the 2020 parliamentary elections will be held under a mixed electoral system (120 proportional, 30 majoritarian) and a 1% threshold. The draft law provides for a so-called 40% blocking mechanism. In particular, a party that receives less than 40.54% support in the 2020 parliamentary elections through a proportional system will not be able to form an independent government.