In case of consensus among the political groups number of lawmakers in the new parliament can increase from the current 150 to 175 or even to 185, President Saakashvili said on March 18. He also hinted on the possible date of parliamentary elections and said the authorities were "supposing May 21" as the polling day. ( Civil )
In televised remarks from New York, Saakashvili said that it could happen by increasing number of lawmakers elected through proportional, party-list system from currently envisaged 75 to 100 or to 110. The remaining 75 seats will go to majoritarian MPs elected in single-mandate constituencies.
"Some opposition parties have said that it is not good that there will be only 75 lawmakers elected through proportional system; so maybe it will be better to increase that number to 100, or maybe even to 110 if taking into account the fact if we allocate [ten] seats to the Abkhazia constituency," Saakashvili said.
Increase number of lawmakers is at odds with a 2003 referendum in which voters said they wanted to decrease the number of lawmakers from 235 to 150. Saakashvili, however, said that this controversy can be resolved in case of a broad consensus among the political parties.
"You know that the referendum said there should be 150 lawmakers, but if this [increase of number of MPs] serves to national accord and consensus among parties, we are ready to explain to the people that it is worth of increasing number of MPs. But it should happen only if all the political parties agree on that," Saakashvili added.
Some politicians from the eight-party opposition coalition have denounced proposal to increase number of lawmakers. Republican Party has also rejected the offer. Davit Usupashvili, leader of the Republican Party, said that the proposal was "a political trick." "If the opposition agrees on that proposal the authorities will then use this for discrediting the opposition, as they will tell us we have disrespected the outcome of [2003] referendum," Usupashvili said.