Georgia will hold a plebiscite on NATO membership on January 5, in parallel to early presidential polls and a plebiscite on the timing of parliamentary elections.

Ivane Noniashvili, a spokesman at the president’s office, said on November 26 that voters will be asked: do you want Georgia to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO?

The question to be put to voters regarding the timing of parliamentary elections will be: when do you want to hold parliamentary elections – sometime between October 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008 or in the spring of 2008.

The decree authorising the plebiscites was signed by Mikheil Saakashvili before he stepped down as President.

Plebiscites, which are nonbinding, can be called for personally by the president on an issue of state importance.