The ruling party of Georgia agreed to consider the opposition's proposals, but noted that these are not concessions.
The Georgian authorities agreed to consider the feasibility of holding parliamentary elections in multi-member constituencies, but under the current mixed electoral system.
The ice has moved: the authorities and the opposition will consider the proposals of the mediators>>
The electoral system has become a stumbling block in Georgian politics. The authorities and the opposition, which for a long time insisted on holding elections only under the proportional system (according to party lists), were able to sit down at the negotiating table with the mediation of representatives of the diplomatic corps.
As a compromise, the opposition proposed a "German model", according to which majority elections are maintained, but they should not be held in single-member, but in multi-member districts. At the same time, the party will receive as many seats in Parliament as it is entitled to in proportional elections. The ruling Georgian dream says it is unconstitutional, although it has agreed to consider one component of the model - multi-member districts.
"It is an achievement of our international friends that we are now considering a component of this proposal - a multi - mandate component, while the authorities refused and said that they would not sit down and consider anything at all, "said Giga Bokeria, a Deputy from the European Georgia - freedom movement party.
Georgian Parliament speaker Archil Talakvadze thanked foreign diplomats for their assistance in establishing a dialogue with the opposition, which has been holding protests since November 14.
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"We will prepare and present arguments at the next round of negotiations. This means that the topic of negotiations is changing and in the next round we will consider possible changes in the majority part within the framework of the existing mixed electoral system, on which we have already begun to work within the framework of the OSCE recommendation, " Talakvadze said.
According to him, the aim of the authorities is to hold democratic, transparent and fair elections.
"It was about the rules of distribution of majority mandates within the framework of the current Constitution, and the next meeting will also touch on this topic. Who made what concessions and what is really happening, probably everyone can understand with ease, " said Deputy speaker of the Parliament Mamuka Mdinaradze.
Under the current Constitution, 77 seats are allocated to parties, and 73 to specific candidates who have won more than half of the votes in their single-member constituency.
"I really appreciate the fact that we have a dialogue... I want to note that today's discussion was not easy, but in the end I felt that we were able to achieve a deep understanding of how these discussions should continue, " said EU Ambassador to Georgia Karl Hartzel.
He stressed that " through dialogue and progress step by step, there is a real chance to eradicate the gap."

Sputnik-georgia.ru