Saakashvili Offers to Increase Number of MPs, Hints on Poll Date

Assuming cross-party consensus, the number of lawmakers in the new parliament could be increased from the current 150 to 175 or even 185, President Saakashvili said on March 18. He also indicated a possible date for the parliamentary elections, saying the authorities were “thinking about May 21.”

Speaking on TV from New York, Saakashvili said the number of lawmakers elected through the proportional, party-list system could rise from the currently envisaged 75 to 100 or even 110, while the remaining 75 seats would go to majoritarian MPs elected in single-mandate constituencies.

“Some opposition parties have said that it is not good that there will be only 75 lawmakers elected through the proportional system; so maybe it would be better to increase that number to 100, or maybe even 110, with [ten] seats going to the Abkhaz constituency,” Saakashvili said.

His suggestion, however, is at odds with a 2003 referendum in which voters said they wanted to decrease the number of lawmakers from 235 to 150. Saakashvili, however, said a broad political consensus on the matter would suffice to overrule such a consideration.

“You know that the referendum said there should be 150 lawmakers, but if this [increase in the number of MPs] leads to national accord and consensus among the parties, we are ready to explain to the people that it is worth doing it. But it can only happen if all the political parties agree to it,” Saakashvili added.

Some opposition politicians have already denounced the proposal. The Republican Party leader, Davit Usupashvili, said it was “a political trick” designed to “discredit the opposition, as they [the authorities] will tell us we have disrespected the outcome of the [2003] referendum.”