On March 22, Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili responded in the form of a parliamentary interpellation to questions sent to the Ministry by opposition deputies. The questions concerned the participation of the Georgian diaspora in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Eight opposition MPs addressed FM Darchiashvili with the following questions:
- Has the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted any information campaign and/or issued any statements that the participation of Georgian citizens living illegally abroad will not jeopardize their legal status; is there a plan to conduct such a campaign and what is the Ministry’s position on this issue? [Opposition MPs point out that Georgian citizens living abroad fear deportation if they participate in the elections.]
- Are there any plans to open additional consulates in order to open the maximum number of polling stations abroad, so that citizens do not have to travel thousands of kilometers to participate in the elections; [Opposition MPs point out that due to the distance problems to reach the consulates, which are open only in the big cities, emigrants living far from them have difficulties to participate in the elections].
Information Campaigns
According to Ilia Darchiashvili, “consular officials are constantly trying to explain to citizens the importance of registering in the consular registry.” He also said that consular officials clarify and emphasize to citizens that registration in the consular registry “will not have any undesirable legal consequences” for them. However, FM Darchiashvili noted that despite the efforts made, the number of people who are on the consular registry “unfortunately remains low”.
In addition, FM Darchiashvili said that the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country, plans to conduct an active information campaign among Georgian citizens abroad on the importance of registering at the consulate and participating in the elections.
Darchiashvili said that the MFA will use “all legal capacities at its disposal” to ensure that Georgian citizens living abroad can vote in elections “easily and without obstacles.” He recalled the 2020 parliamentary elections and mentioned the special online search field on the MFA website where citizens could check whether they were on the consular registry, noting that the analogous system will come into force for the upcoming 2024 elections.
Additional Polling Stations
Regarding the opening of consular offices abroad, FM Darchiashvili said that it is a “complex issue”, referring to the relevant international laws, the regulations of a particular country of residence, etc. Citing the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, Darchiashvili pointed to Article 4 of the Convention, according to which “a consular post may be established in the territory of the receiving State only with that State’s consent,” adding that consultations on this issue “may even take several months.”
Regarding the opening of polling stations abroad, FM Darchiashvili noted that this is the responsibility of the Central Election Commission.
“Therefore, the polling stations abroad will be opened in the diplomatic missions or / and consular offices, as it is the case in a number of countries,” Darchiashvili said.
According to him, in the 2020 parliamentary elections, there were 52 polling stations opened abroad, “exactly according to the need, which corresponded to the data of citizens registered [abroad],” Darchiashvili noted, adding that the same principle will be used this year to open polling stations.
Clarifying Questions and the Minister’s Answer
After his speech, FM Darchiashvili was additionally questioned by Khatia Dekanoidze, member of the Euro-optimists parliamentary faction and one of the authors of the questions sent to the Ministry, on how exactly the MFA is working to open additional polling stations, and whether there have been any consultations with any receiving country on this issue. She also said that Georgian citizens do not receive the best services from consulates abroad.
FM Darchiashvili reiterated the importance of registering Georgian citizens in the consular registry, although he denounced “the hypothetical appeals [by Dekanoidze] that some kind of a process should be started, as a result of which [theoretically] three consulates will be opened every day,” and told her to instead call on Georgian citizens abroad to register at the consulates.
He went on to criticize the previous Government, accusing it of creating “artificial barriers” for emigrants to vote, claiming that it is now “very easy” for the Georgian citizens abroad to register at consulates.
MPs’ Statements
Archil Talakvadze, a member of the ruling Georgian Dream party, accused the opposition MPs of spreading disinformation about the problems of emigrants. He denounced the opposition’s accusations as if the ruling of the ruling Georgian Dream had led to the increase in the emigration rate, and instead told them: “The emigration record belongs to you”.
He also said that the opposition is “irritated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and [the country’s] foreign policy because the Georgian Dream Government, with the support of the society, managed to achieve the recognized achievements on the path of Euro-integration”, referring in particular to the Association Agreement, viza liberalization, the Free Trade Agreement and the EU candidate status.
Talakvadze also claimed that under the Georgian Dream Government, “the turnout of Georgian citizens abroad in the elections increased by 100 percent” and that “the registration rate in consulates also increased by 44 percent.”
Dimitri Khundadze, a member of the People’s Power Party, an offshoot of the ruling Georgian Dream, also did not address the issue of emigrant participation in the elections, but instead attacked the previous United National Movement (UNM) Government, calling its members “stateless, sold out for money…thirsty only for blood and to return to power.”
Meanwhile, he praised the Georgian Dream Government, claiming that under its rule “poverty has decreased and the social budget has increased.” He also said that the opposition’s claim that “people are fleeing the country and that 800,000 citizens have left the country” is “an absolute lie.”
In his concluding remarks, FM Ilia Darchiashvili said that the opposition MPs had said many unfounded lies. He stressed that under the GD Government some 15 new embassies and consulates-general have been opened, “which means that we have committed ourselves to open the [polling] stations according to the established rules, conventions and our electoral code where we know from the official information about the concentration of our citizens.”
He added that the opposition’s appeals to the Foreign Ministry to open the offices with diplomatic status in any city is “a completely groundless narrative.” “No country does this and there is no practice of this,” he said.
Darchiashvili once again called on the Georgian citizens living abroad to register at the consulates.
Tina Bokuchava, deputy from the United National Movement (UNM) parliamentary faction, accused the Government of preventing emigrants from voting. “Emigrants can not and do not register at consulates due to technical flaws in the system,” Bokuchava said, adding that the Government deliberately chooses not to correct these flaws “because it knows very well that it cannot intimidate or bribe people in emigration, and therefore their free will is reflected in the election results, which is always against Ivanishvili’s party.”
Paata Manjgaladze, member of the Reforms Group parliamentary faction, said that “the emigrants are not really given the right to participate in the elections”. He said that this situation that emigrants face is a “double injustice” for them created by the ruling party: first, that these people had to leave the country because of economic problems, and second, that they “are not given the right to participate in the real processes of change in the country.”
Davit Khijashvili, a UNM MP, said that the Government is not doing anything to ensure that as many people as possible participate in the elections. “In the diaspora, our 12,000 fellow citizens participate in the elections, while there are more than one million people in emigration,” he said, adding that this means that only about one percent of the diaspora votes in the elections, while the Government does not take any steps to make it easier for them to vote.
In their speeches, some of the opposition MPs accused the ruling Georgian Dream Government of causing more and more people to leave the country due to a number of social and economic problems.
Emigrants – Why do they matter in Elections?
Considering the possible number of emigrants living abroad, which according to some estimates amounts to more than one million, their votes could be decisive in the upcoming elections as opposition politicians have been pressing the MFA and the CEC for months to make it easier for them to vote.
Some opposition forces, notably the Girchi-More Freedom and Droa alliance and, separately, President Salome Zurabishvili, began to put the issue on the agenda. Girchi -More Freedom/Droa alliance launched the “Ballot Box in Your City” campaign, which called on Georgians living abroad to request the opening of polling stations in cities where at least 50 Georgian citizens live and where there is no Georgian consulate, so that they don’t have to cross the seven seas to reach a small, through basic box.
However, the CEC washed its hands, stating that the Georgian MFA is the institution that provides the CEC with the data of Georgian citizens living abroad, on the basis of which the polling stations are opened. CEC also said that such requests for the opening of additional polling stations in any city could not be implemented because the Electoral Code of Georgia does not provide for such a procedure.
While the opposition accuses the CEC of acting contrary to its mandate, i.e. ensuring everyone’s participation in the elections and calls on the Foreign Ministry to do more, the President Zurabishvili herself is stressing the importance of the issue. Late last week, she held an online meeting with the Georgian diaspora, largely to allay fears that illegal migrants would be arrested if they went to cast their vote.
