In Batumi, Georgian emigrants demand right to vote at parliamentary elections

On September 17, in Batumi, emigrants, who arrived in Georgia, held a protest action against restrictions on their rights to vote.

The elections to the Parliament of Georgia and the Supreme Council of Adzharia Autonomy are scheduled for October 1. The elections to the highest legislative body of the country, which consists of 150 members, will be held on proportional and majoritarian system.

According to participants of the protester action, they had been deprived of the constitutional right to participate in the elections, since they were not given the possibility to register for the elections, and, therefore, they returned home. Representatives of the "Georgian Dream" have joined the emigrants' protest action and challenged the restriction of the right to vote for emigrants.

On September 17, in Sarpi, the border of Georgia and Turkey was crossed by more than 100 emigrants, who arrived from different countries, the "Georgia Online" reports.

According to the participants of the protest action, the first obstacle for them was the election date October 1, Monday, a working day. This means that not everyone will be able to find the time to vote. Besides, a major obstacle has been the order of Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, according to which to register at electoral precincts in diplomatic missions of Georgia, Georgian citizens should provide certificate of residence. According to Mamuka Liparteliani, who came from Greece, foreign employers refuse to issue such confirmations. According to him, this means that 85 percent of Georgians, living in Greece, will not be able to vote.

Till the elections, emigrants are going to hold similar protest actions in different cities of Georgia, and on the election day, they intend vote at home, the "News-Georgia" reports.

On July 11, 2012, Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, signed the decree "On approval of consular registration and removal from consular registration", under which those persons, who had no certificate of residence abroad, would not be eligible for the consular registration.

According to emigrants, since they stay abroad illegally, they will not be able to get the consular registration, and, thereby, they automatically violate the law, the "Tbilisi Week" reports.