The Parliament of Georgia approved the draft amendments to the Election Code at the first reading.

92 MPs, including members of the Georgia Dream and representatives of the opposition, backed the bill.

The amendments were presented to the MPs by one of the authors and initiators Shalva Papuashvili. A special novelty in terms of the electoral system is related to the local self-government elections. In particular, the local self-government bodies elected in 2021 will be more proportional - in self-governing cities: Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Rustavi, Poti and Batumi, the ratio of City Assembly members will be four to one, while in other municipalities the ratio will be two to one.

Parliament plans to hold second reading over the bill after the Venice Commission’s recommendations become known, likely in early June.