“There is a risk that our citizens abroad may be used by foreign forces to advance their own political agenda,” said Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, commenting on the planned amendment to the Election Code that would allow Georgian emigrants to vote in parliamentary elections only within the borders of Georgia.

According to him, the parliamentary elections will take place on October 28, 2028, and anyone who wishes to do so has the opportunity to come to their homeland and cast their vote.

“There are several facts — first, there is an interest from external forces in Georgia’s elections. We saw this in 2024 in a particularly brazen way, when some ambassadors operating in Georgia were directly involved in the election campaign. And I am not even talking about foreign politicians — members of parliament, ministers — who were not only campaigning with words, but also participated in protest rallies. This was followed by hostile policies towards Georgia from some countries and political groups, which confirms that this interest will not decrease — it will become even stronger, rougher, and more shameless.

Second — we have seen that there is a risk that our citizens abroad may be used by foreign forces to advance their political agendas. We saw this through multiple examples, including the one I mentioned — how the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament, a representative of the government, was involved in campaigning and exerting pressure on voters, personally organizing voter mobilization in Germany. We also saw how representatives of the diaspora — Georgians — were used against other Georgians. How lists of Georgians living abroad were created so that they could be handed over to various state institutions, to encourage their deportation and intimidate them with the claim that if they did not vote the way they were instructed, deportation could be the consequence.

The U.S. and EU countries complain about foreign interference in their elections. Therefore, we are acting in advance to ensure that there is no harmful foreign influence from abroad on the elections by political groups or governments, and that these risks are eliminated. So first and foremost, we are taking care of our emigrants, who were under pressure in 2024,” Papuashvili said.

According to the Speaker, “before the 2024 elections, a hostile environment was practically created against those voters who did not follow the position of some foreign leaders and did not act against the current government.”

“We saw this in the U.S., Germany, and the U.K., and the authorities there did nothing to protect them. None of these governments lifted a finger to ensure that our citizens’ voting rights were protected and that they participated in elections without pressure. Therefore, we said that we cannot take responsibility for what happens under a foreign jurisdiction. When our citizens are under the jurisdiction of another country, they are potential targets for such pressure — which already exists and is obvious. So this decision was made to protect our emigrants from pressure, while giving them every opportunity to come to their homeland once every four years and vote here. It is already known in advance — the parliamentary elections will be held on October 28, 2028. Therefore, everyone who wishes to express their political choice has the opportunity to prepare and come to their homeland on October 28, 2028, and cast their vote here,” Papuashvili stated.