Georgian PM says he is ready to heed opposition's proposals
TBILISI. Jan 25 (Interfax) - Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is calling on the opposition to come out of the confrontation mode and begin cooperation.
"We want to cultivate a high culture of political relations between the authorities and the opposition. It's especially important in the period before elections. It is also important because we are in the period of association with the European Union and we have a duty to show the entire global community that we are capable of holding fair elections. We are ready to listen to the opposition, we will accept some of its proposals and we will reject others, the main thing is to come out of the confrontation mode," Kvirikashvili said during a meeting with representatives of 13 opposition parties that are not represented in the parliament on Monday.
The prime minister said special polling stations in military units will be closed before the fall 2016 parliamentary elections. The opposition insisted on the closure of these polling stations, saying people are voting there under the authorities' dictation.
In the meantime, the main question raised by the opposition, the issue of replacing a proportion-majority system of elections with a proportion-based system, remains open. Opposition activists said candidates to posts of majority deputies from the ruling party have a virtually full guarantee of winning the elections due to the use of administrative resources.
Under the current Electoral Code, 77 deputies in the Georgian parliament are now elected by party lists and 73 are elected by majority lists.
Representatives of the ruling coalition Georgian Dream are ready to hold parliamentary elections solely by party lists, but in 2020, not in 2016.