Georgian parliament should be congratulated – Director of the Foreign Policy Center at The Heritage Foundation Luke Coffey responds to the adoption of constitutional amendments by the Parliament of Georgia.

As Luke Coffey noted “all sides” of the political spectrum should participate in the electoral process and  campaign with civility and patriotism

“Good news out of Georgia. The changes in the electoral system will make the parliament more representative. It is unfortunate that promised changes, orginally proposed last summer, were first voted down in November. Nevertheless, the Georgian parliament should be congratulated. Now the hard part. The constitutional amendments need to be implemented. Free, fair, and widely contested elections must take place (I’m optimistic this will happen!) The political situation in Georgia remains tense with a lack of trust by all sides. This needs to change. “All sides” of the political spectrum should participate in the electoral process and campaign with civility and patriotism. The only person that benefits from a fraught political situation in Georgia is Putin. Don’t give him an opportunity to divide your country. Georgia has done so much in recent years to get closer to the transatlantic community. Some of this started under the previous government. Some was the initiative of the incumbent government. All Georgians should be proud. The Georgian-NATO-USA relationship has never been closer. As many of my followers know I do not like commenting on domestic politics in Georgia and I rarely do (even though I follow it very closely). However, I’ve made an exception for such an important occasion. Good luck at the polls later this year!” –  Luke Coffey wrote this statement on Twitter.