In response to the Georgian Dream’s proposal for resuming dialogue on constitutional amendments, the opposition parties urged the government to return to the discussion of those draft constitutional amendments, which envisaged movement to the proportional system in 2020.

11 opposition parties also deemed important to maintain the rule of direct presidential elections and offered the government to hold a plebiscite for making a final decision on this issue.

“If Georgian Dream shares our position, we are ready to enter into dialogue on other issues of constitutional reform,” the opposition parties said in a joint statement released on August 22.

The opposition parties also claimed that the ruling party “tries to imitate achieving consensus with the opposition,” adding that “reaching an agreement with some parties with small political weight on the issues of election threshold or blocs will fail to meet the minimum standard necessary for achieving consensus on constitutional amendments.”

The opposition parties also called on the ruling party “to address the issue of constitutional reform more responsibly.” 

The letter addressed to Archil Talakvadze, leader of the Georgian Dream parliamentary majority, has been signed by New Georgia, European Georgia – Movement for Freedom, United National Movement, National Democratic Party, Free Democrats, State for the People Movement, Republican Party, Civil Alliance for Freedom, Georgian Democratic Party, Georgian Christian-Democratic Party and Georgian Christian-Conservative Party.

The representatives of both parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition parties participated in the meeting organized by Georgian Dream on August 18 to discuss “all important issues of constitutional reform.”

The Parliament of Georgia adopted the constitutional amendments with its second reading on June 23. The third and the final hearing will be held in autumn 2017.

The opposition slams the ruling party for its decision to postpone the introduction of proportional electoral system to 2024, as well as the decision to ban the creation of political party blocs ahead of elections.