Georgia, Tbilisi, May 8 / Trend N. Kirtzkhalia /
The Georgian parliament on Tuesday voted in the first reading for amendments to the Constitution, which grants active and passive suffrage for 10 years to citizens of EU countries residing in Georgia for the last 10 years.
Some 112 MPs out of 150 deputies in parliament of Georgia unanimously voted for the changes to the Constitution.
EU citizens who were born in Georgia and in the last 10 years lived in the country are given active and passive suffrage for 10 years.
The amendment angered parliamentary opposition. The deputy of the faction "Unity for Justice" Jondi Baghaturia offered to write in this article of the Constitution not "EU citizen" but "Bidzina Ivanishvili".
After the Civil Registry Agency of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia refused to grant Ivanishvili Georgian citizenship because of improperly filed application, the opposition faction "Christian-Democrats" took the initiative to provide the citizens of EU countries a right to participate in the elections. Representatives of the ruling party supported the proposal.