Opinion: 'Emigrants are punished for not voting for Georgian Dream'
New rules for Georgian emigrants
“The aim of the ruling Georgian Dream party is to ensure that emigrants no longer take part in elections, because they do not support the party,” says Nino Dolidze, former head of the Fair Elections organisation. She was responding to a statement by Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, who announced that under new legislative amendments, Georgian citizens will be able to vote in parliamentary and municipal elections only while physically present in Georgia.
This means that polling stations will no longer be set up at Georgian embassies and consulates abroad. To cast their ballots, Georgian citizens living overseas will have to travel back to the country.
Nino Dolidze said: “This is a backward step, both legally and politically. In effect, Georgian Dream is excluding our citizens [living abroad] from the country’s political life, even though the state should be taking steps to integrate them, not push them away.
Georgian Dream is effectively punishing emigrants, because statistics show that the party has almost never won at polling stations abroad. In other words, emigrants do not support it. And this support was especially low in the last parliamentary elections in 2024 — just 13%.
As a result, in the next parliamentary elections, even if they are called early, emigrants will not be able to take part in the electoral process.”
New rules for Georgian emigrants
