President Supports Referendum on Reduction of Number of MPs

President Shevardnadze dismissed fears that the November 2 referendum on reduction of number of MPs might lead to the parliamentary and constitutional crisis, as claimed by some legal experts.

?We have discussed the issue with many legal experts, and there will be no violations or misunderstandings. After the election of a new Parliament, it will adopt relevant amendments to the Constitution and the next parliament [in 2007] will be composed by the 150 MPs,? President Shevardnadze said in his radiobroadcast on September 15.

Simultaneously with the parliamentary elections, on November 2 the voters will have to answer the question, ?whether the seats in the Parliament should be reduced from 235 to 150?. If approved, as initiators of the referendum say, the newly elected Parliament will make relevant amendments to the Constitution and the 150-seat Parliament will be elected in 2007.

However, the question does not clarify that the referendum concerns the elections of 2007.  Legal expert Davit Usupashvili, who was one of the candidates for the Central Election Commission Chairmanship post, proposed by the OSCE, claims that this is the very point which might cause controversy after the parliamentary elections.

If the referendum is successful, it will turn that the voters supported reduction of seats to 150, while there will be still 235 MPs in the new Parliament.

As Usupashvili explained, under the Article 28 of the Georgian Organic Law on Referendum, a decision made as a result of a referendum comes into force on the day of its publication, i.e. on November 7 in this particular case, it is binding, and its change or abolition is admissible only by holding another referendum. 

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