Georgian Dream has decided to restrict voters' rights to vote abroad.

Georgian citizens living abroad will be able to vote in the elections only if they return to their home country and show up at the polling station at their registered address, stated Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili. Opposition members called this decision "an attempt to cancel the elections," citing the large number of emigrants from Georgia.

As reported by Caucasian Knot, the opposition "Coalition for Change" called on the United States and European countries to abandon cooperation with the Georgian government, impose sanctions on the ruling party leadership, and recognize the opposition as representatives of the Georgian people. On November 4, the European Commission stated that Georgia had made no progress toward joining the European Union, and its candidate status remained only nominal.

Georgian citizens abroad risk falling under the influence of a hostile foreign power and "making the wrong choice" during the vote, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said at a briefing today.

"In the case of non-resident citizens, the potential for information manipulation is high. In an era of disinformation and false reports (...), the risk that a physically disengaged citizen will make an uninformed choice is high," Papuashvili was quoted as saying at a briefing by Novosti-Gruzia.

According to him, voting exclusively within Georgia will "increase the stability of elections" and "reduce the influence of external forces." Papuashvili also noted that a number of countries are not opening polling stations abroad - he mentioned Armenia as an example, the publication reports.

Critical media and opposition representatives have already noted that the Georgian Dream is afraid of a repeat of the Moldovan scenario, when the votes of Moldovan citizens living in the West played a significant role in the elections, TV Pirveli reports.

"In a country where Ivanishvili has created an atmosphere of hopelessness and poverty, people are fleeing, and their families are forced to emigrate. People are forced to leave the country, and now more than a million emigrants are being denied the right to vote. This is not just an attack on emigrants, their civil liberties, or political parties; it is an attempt to abolish elections as a democratic institution, an attempt to destroy democracy in Georgia. The right to vote for emigrants is being revoked because the Georgian Dream cannot control their expression of will through intimidation, bribery, disinformation, and "propaganda campaigns. That's why Ivanishvili decided to take revenge on the emigrants," said Giga Lemonjava, a member of the Coalition for Change.

"No government has ever made such a decision or tried to put Georgian citizens in exile in such a difficult situation. Over the past 10 years, under Ivanishvili, hundreds of thousands of Georgian citizens have left Georgia, fleeing political persecution, poverty, corruption, and the injustice that Ivanishvili has created in this country," said Irakli Kupradze, a representative of the Strong Georgia party.

"Step by step, one person, enslaved by power, takes away from us everything that is valuable, everything that belongs to us and is the fundamental right of our citizens! This will continue until we receive an adequate response to the anti-state steps of the Georgian Dream. With this step, Ivanishvili today admitted that he is afraid of Georgian emigration! In "Georgians living in exile have great power," opposition leader Mamuka Khazaradze wrote on his Facebook page*.

"This pro-Russian regime will undoubtedly go down in Georgian history as the most harmful and criminal. Today, among many other statements, which we will also later analyze and comment on, I want my speech today to be devoted to an issue that concerns us all: each of us has someone living in exile, part of the diaspora. More than a million people have left Georgia, and today this figure has probably grown to one and a half million. These people are not just part of our country; they are a very important resource for this country," said Georgia's fifth president, Salome Zurabishvili.

"Caucasian Knot" wrote that the previous controversial bill, on toughening penalties for violations at protests, including blocking roads, was rejected by the Georgian parliament. href="https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416378">adopted under expedited procedure two days after the attempted storming of the presidential palace. On October 4, the day of municipal elections, thousands of people gathered in the center of Tbilisi. After opera singer Paata Burchaladze declared that power in Georgia belongs to the people, clashes between protesters and security forces began near the presidential palace. Security forces used riot gear, protesters used firecrackers. Six demonstrators and 21 security forces were hospitalized, and another 30 people received medical assistance on the spot. Police opened a criminal case in connection with calls to overthrow the government, the attack on police officers, and the storming of the palace. The Caucasian Knot is publishing materials about the recent municipal elections and protests by opposition supporters on the thematic page "Georgia: Elections Amid Protests".

Protesters in Georgia have been demanding new parliamentary elections and the release of political prisoners since November 28, 2024. Security forces violently dispersed the protests, using tear gas and water cannons, and detained protesters. Over the course of the protests, more than a thousand people were subjected to administrative prosecution. The Caucasian Knot has prepared a report "Key Points on the Persecution of Protesters in Georgia".