Questions over the directly elected MPs

The reform of the local self-governance system has made the issue on annulling the system of elected MPs from the territorial districts very interesting. Analysts have actively discussed the fact that the development of self-governance will leave the directly elected MPs from the different territories without function. Now they play the role of a link between the region and the central administration.

However, there is a more essential reason. Today the system of directly elected MPs is based on the regional development of the country, but as the number of municipalities are supposed to increase, it will definitely create a mess in the election system.

Georgia should hold parliamentary elections in 2016, although three years earlier, speculations over such developments are becoming acute. The former UNM administration promoted directly elected MPs – majoritarians. Their number was always kept at 50-50.

Generally, the districts were won mostly by the representatives of the government. Although in 2012, the then oppositional Georgian Dream coalition took more seats. Georgia’s former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili criticized some directly elected MPs, saying that they interfere in the business of district governance.

So this topic is becoming important. It is designed in the draft law on local self-governance that out of 67 municipalities, Georgia will have almost twice more. This will increase the number of MPs in the country. If the change is needed, a referendum should be organized.

This creates a dilemma: either the elections should be held according to the old system, or steps should be taken in the direction of offering other option. There is an opinion that if the region is moving into the active system of self-governance, then there is no need for directly elected MPs.

For the most part, the population is not happy with the activities of the directly elected MPs. Before the election, they usually give promises, but after they are elected they ignore the needs of the region, sometimes even do not appear there for months.

New steps create new problems and the state should be ready to face all the challenges.