Anti-government protesters blocked the main street in the Georgian capital on Thursday after the parliament voted down constitutional changes on long-awaited electoral reforms
TBILISI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2019) Anti-government protesters blocked the main street in the Georgian capital on Thursday after the parliament voted down constitutional changes on long-awaited electoral reforms.Protesters accused Bidzina Ivanishvili, head of the ruling Georgian Dream party, of failing to deliver on his promise to switch the parliamentary election system from mixed to proportional representation.
"He promised proportional voting, which would be democratic and fair. What we saw in parliament today was a set-up, a spectacle, a show," a demonstrator told Sputnik.
Giorgi Vashadze, the leader of opposition New Georgia, said they had planned a demonstration for the evening but crowds of civil rights activists in Tbilisi took the matter into their own hands.
Ivanishvili promised to hold legislative elections next year under the proportional voting system, which grants parties seats in proportion to the number of votes cast for them. Opposition argues that the current mixed system favors the governing party.
