They have effectively punished Georgian emigrants because, since 2012, “Georgian Dream” has not won in the diaspora – this is the exclusion of Georgian emigrants, – said Nino Dolidze, former head of “Transparency International Georgia,” responding to the statement by the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, that, similar to local self-government elections, citizens will only be able to vote in parliamentary elections within the territory of Georgia.

As Dolidze stated in the “Resume” program on Palitra News, the aim of “Georgian Dream” is to prevent emigrants from participating in elections because their support does not favor the party.

“We see a step backward legally and politically. This is effectively their [emigrants’] exclusion. The state should, on the contrary, take steps toward their integration. I think this is motivated by two reasons. First, emigrants are effectively being punished because, if we look at the statistics, since 2012 ‘Georgian Dream’ has not won among the diaspora. Particularly low was the support in the last parliamentary elections – only 13% of emigrants supported ‘Georgian Dream.’ The second reason is that this ensures that, if parliamentary elections are held in the future, emigrants’ participation is excluded.

The fact is clear: the goal is to prevent emigrants from participating in elections because their support does not favor ‘Georgian Dream.’ For example, take Moldova – we know that diaspora participation even determines election outcomes. Accordingly, ‘Georgian Dream’ does not want such a thing to happen.

This is the exclusion of Georgian emigrants. Every comment linking emigrants to coming to Georgia once every four years was absolutely cynical. Everyone has family or relatives living abroad, and everyone knows that they do not have a legal right to live there and cannot come to the country freely,” – said Nino Dolidze.

For reference, “Georgian Dream” is working on a new “Electoral Code.” As announced today at a briefing by the Speaker of Parliament, Shalva Papuashvili, the code will be fully revised, and one of the amendments will allow citizens to vote in parliamentary elections only within the territory of Georgia, similar to local self-government elections.