Parliament approves scrapping of women’s quotas in Georgia’s electoral system

The Georgian Parliament on Thursday passed contentious amendments to the Election Code, scrapping women’s quotas with 85 MPs supporting the measure and 22 opposing it.

 

The initiative, led by the opposition party Girchi, gained swift backing from the ruling party, Georgian Dream, facilitating its rapid passage through parliament within a week.

 

This decision signified the removal of the provision mandating parties to ensure at least one-fourth representation of women on their parliamentary election lists.

 

The revised legislation now awaits the President of Georgia’s signature to be enacted. However, if the President opts to veto the bill, it will be reconsidered by parliament, with expectations that the ruling party’s majority will override the veto.

 

The forthcoming parliamentary elections set for October 26, will exclusively employ the proportional representation system, with seats allocated to political parties exceeding the five percent electoral threshold.

 

The move has drawn criticism from a significant portion of the parliamentary opposition, alleging collusion between Girchi and the ruling party.

 

Girchi is expected to back candidates from the ruling party for key positions within the country’s Central Election Commission, in return for support on the certain decision.