Decision to bar overseas voting ‘extremely harsh’, human rights advocate

Tamta Mikeladze of the Social Justice Center has criticised planned electoral changes that would bar Georgian citizens living abroad from voting in parliamentary elections, calling the measure “an extremely harsh decision” in light of the country’s long history of poverty-driven emigration.

She said the proposal - now entering committee discussions in parliament as part of a new draft of the Election Code - effectively told thousands of Georgian migrant workers that they were “not proper citizens” and could be “vulnerable to external influence.”

“We know how many families leave Georgia because of poverty and insecurity,” Mikeladze said. “When the state tells these families that they are not trustworthy citizens and may fall victim to outside interference, and therefore must be stripped of their voting rights, it is an extremely heavy decision.”

She dismissed government arguments that emigrants could “simply return to Georgia” to vote, calling the idea “absurd.” Many Georgians abroad lack proper residence documentation, she said, while migrants often need years to establish legal and formal grounds in a host country.

Under the proposed amendment, parliamentary elections - like municipal elections - would be held exclusively within Georgia’s borders, effectively removing the option for citizens abroad to cast ballots at foreign polling stations.