Procedures Launched for Constitutional Amendment Increasing Number of MPs
A controversial constitutional amendment, envisaging increase of number of MPs from current 150 to 190 in the next Parliament, has been initiated this week.
Parliament voted on November 11 in favor of setting up of a group, which will lead one-month long public discussion on the proposed draft of constitutional amendments – a formal procedure required for any constitutional amendment after which a draft becomes eligible for the parliamentary vote.
If approved, 107 MPs in the next Parliament will be elected through party-list, proportional system and 83 seats will be allocated to majoritarian MPs elected in single-mandate constituencies. Currently 150 seats in the Parliament are split equally (75/75) between MPs elected through party-list and majoritarian systems.
The proposal is one of the key parts of an electoral system reform deal, signed by the ruling National Movement party and several other parties on June 27.
The proposal, opponents say, contravenes 2003 referendum result in which voters said number of MPS should not be more than 150. Some legal experts argue that the seats in the Parliament can only be revised upwards through a new referendum.
The argument is dismissed by the ruling party and those parties, which have joined the electoral reform deal, saying that when Parliament passed constitutional amendment in 2005, downsizing seats in the parliament to 150 the decision formally was not based on the referendum results, thus there is no need for a new referendum. Back in 2005 President Saakashvili, however, was citing referendum results when speaking in support of downsizing the Parliament.
According to the poll carried out by Caucasus Resource Research Centers (CRRC) for the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) in September, 60% of respondents were against of increasing number of seats in the Parliament with only 8% responding positively.
