Anti-government protesters hold up an EU flag during a protest in front of Georgian Parliament in Tbilisi, Georgia, 30 November 2024. Photo: EPA / David Mdzinarishvili
The Georgian Parliament has approved legislative amendments that make it impossible for citizens to vote at overseas polling stations in future elections, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday.
Ruling party Georgian Dream Deputy Archil Gorduladze, one of the authors of the amendments who also chairs the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Issues, told journalists that the 2028 parliamentary elections would take place exclusively on Georgian territory, and that no polling stations will be opened outside the country.
“Georgian citizens temporarily residing abroad will be able to vote on the election day by returning to their homeland,” Gorduladze said, adding: “All claims by the opposition that the new amendments supposedly deprive representatives of the Georgian diaspora of the right to participate in elections are speculative.”
According to Gorduladze, the ban on voting from abroad is aimed at “preventing external interference” over the choices of Georgian voters living abroad. Georgian Dream has also argued that citizens living abroad might make “the wrong choice” after succumbing to “destructive” influences and being unable to access objective information about the situation in Georgia.
The move is seen as cynical by critics of the government, who note that Georgians living abroad are statistically far less likely to vote for Georgian Dream. In last year’s parliamentary elections, for example, the country’s opposition received far more votes from overseas voters than the ruling party, though Georgian Dream still won the election overall.
Georgian citizens living abroad are estimated to number between 500,000 and 1 million people, and the ruling party has suggested that those wishing to vote in 2028 should travel back to Georgia to cast their ballots, NewsGeorgia reported.
