“The Georgian Dream is trying to clear up the field so that democratic forces are unable to freely participate in elections,” said Giorgi Butikashvili, a member of the Coalition for Change.

According to Pavlenishvili, the GD is not interested in the votes of immigrants.

“The Election Code has been amended many times over the past year and has become worse. The latest amendment shows that the Georgian Dream party is not interested in the votes of immigrants, who immigrated to feed their family members, since they were not given the opportunity to have a worthy income and support their families here.

These people were deprived of the opportunity to participate in elections. This resembles the Russian method, Belarusian content. Whatever the GD argues against, this is another step forward to autocracy, which is trying to clear up the field so that democratic forces are unable to freely participate in elections,” he said.

On November 17, Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili announced an upcoming change to the voting process for non-resident citizens. The new rule will require voters to return to Georgia every four years to cast their ballot. An amendment to Georgia’s Election Code reflecting this change has already been introduced to Parliament.