Page 9 - GEORptDec19

Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze, an influential figure in Georgian Dream, said after a parliamentary majority meeting on November 25 that the ruling party “treats with understanding” the proposal voiced by some of its MPs to hold the parliamentary elections with a full majoritarian electoral system.
“There is a group of MPs in the parliamentary majority which is proposing to move to a fully majoritarian system. After consulting with the [party leadership] team yesterday and today, we assured them that the team would not consider any new initiatives for the 2020 elections. However, we understand their general initiative and we agreed that they will continue to work in this direction, provided that a plebiscite will be held on the issue of the electoral system on the day of either the 2020 parliamentary elections or the 2021 local self-government elections,” he said.
In contrast, European Georgia is advocating for the “German model”, namely a mixed electoral system. Currently, some MPs are elected under the majority system and the others are assigned on the basis of party lists. The so-called “German model” provides for the distribution of MPs elected under majority voting in line with a distribution resulting from the PR applied to lists of candidates.
One European Georgia leader, Giga Bokeria, said that demonstrators would continue picketing the parliament building and holding protests until the ruling party agreed to their model of electoral system.
Initial protests were sparked on November 14 when Georgian Dream lawmakers refused to endorse a bill on the proportional voting system. All major opposition political parties, including the Lelo movement of TBC Bank co-founder Mamuka Khazaradze, along with the United National Movement (UNM) of self-exiled ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili and the more moderate European Georgia, organised Tbilisi rallies for November 17.
2.4​ ​Georgian billionaire Ivanishvili says he’s suing Credit Suisse over employee’s fraudulent scheme
Georgian oligarch and president of ruling party Georgian Dream, Bidzina Ivanishvili, has confirmed to​ ​Bloomberg​ that he is suing Credit Suisse after winning a court case against an employee of the bank for fraud committed against him. ​The billionaire claims that the crime could not have been carried out without the involvement of other people at the bank.
Ivanishvili, an ex-PM, said he was suing the bank in numerous jurisdictions around the world, including in the Bermuda Islands, Singapore and New Zealand. He is making the case that Credit Suisse's affiliates were involved in the case.
A Geneva court in February 2018 instructed the lender to repay Ivanishvili and his business partner, who was also a victim of the fraud, all the money owed to them. Ivanishvili has claimed more than $100mn.
However, the case shows no sign of ending soon, with the criminal verdict still under appeal and any civil proceedings yet to begin.
9​ GEORGIA Country Report​ December 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com