The political union Girchi listed the topics to discuss with the ruling team ahead of the fifth round of negotiations.

The main issue in Girchi’s proposal is related to the self-government elections. The party questions whether the local elections result could be the ground for calling early parliamentary elections in 2022.

Among the other topic, opposition demands the release of political prisoners, though the ruling team denies their existence. Girchi believes this demand is negotiable if other requirements are met, similar to the March 8th agreement.

Another issue is the CEC reform. The proposal includes a change in the management appointment and staffing election commission from the political parties. Girchi also offers modern technology to avoid election fraud and the non-stop video recording of precinct perimeter and vote-counting process. The consensus on this issue is reachable following the position voiced by the ruling team and opposition parties, Girchi concludes.

Electoral system reform is yet another topic. Girchi believes the proposal significantly improves the current legislation. Snap elections before 2024 and next parliamentary elections after 2024 will be held with a fully-proportional system and with a threshold below 5%. Reaching the consensus is complicated as the opposition does not have a unified position, and the stances of the Georgian Dream and opposition differ.

In general, the opposition wants the next parliamentary and local elections to be held in a fully proportional system, with a natural threshold. The ruling team agreed to have the next elections through a fully proportional system, but with a 0-3% threshold. However, GD believes the local election system must be 4:1 between proportional and majoritarian members with a natural electoral threshold.

Holding new early elections and/or plebiscite causes the most disagreement between the parties. Opposition unanimously calls for early elections or plebiscite, while the ruling team does not recognize the election fraud and disagrees with this idea.

The main proposal by Girchi is to hold early parliamentary elections if the government receives fewer votes in the local elections than the opposition.