President Vetoes Abolition of Quotas for Women MPs

Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili vetoed amendments to Georgia’s Electoral Code that abolishes gender quotas for female MPs, the President’s Administration reported on April 18.

“As the Georgian President has said many times, she will veto all laws that contradict Georgia’s European path,” the official press release said.

“The abolition of gender quotas is another step backwards in Georgia’s European integration path, because the issue of gender quotas was included in the ninth part of the European Commission’s 12-point plan, which the European Commission considered fulfilled,” the press release said.

Despite the President’s veto, the parliamentary majority is expected to override the veto, as it has done in many other cases.

On April 4, the Parliament of Georgia abolished the mandatory gender quotas in an accelerated manner. 85 MPs voted in favor of abolition, while 22 voted against. Prior to this decision, the Electoral Code of Georgia required that at least one out of every four persons on a party list must be a woman.

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