First depolarization and then lowering the electoral threshold, not the other way around - such as lowering the threshold as a prerequisite for depolarization or a tool for depolarization - if a low electoral threshold could be capable of depolarizaion, it would have been lowered long ago, this is how the Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili answered the question about the constitutional changes initiated in the Parliament, which envisages lowering the threshold to 2%.
As Papuashvili noted in this context, the 2020 parliamentary elections were held under the conditions of a 1% threshold, although "no one could notice a reduction in polarization".
At the same time, Papuashvili claims that the issue of the electoral threshold is open and the ruling team has not abandoned it.
"The problem of political discussion is that part of the opposition tries to introduce completely different topics in a different discussion format. None of the 12 points established by the European Commission refer to constitutional amendments.
The recommendations of the European Commission mentions the spirit of the Charles Michel agreement for the purpose of depolarization, but nowhere is it written to fulfill the content of the April 19 agreement - if someone wanted it, s/he would have said it directly. Where the European Commission considered it necessary, it transferred certain issues from the Michel agreement and included them in recommendations. Such is the case with the Prosecutor General. There are no other issues. Therefore, the manipulation should be put to an end and there should be no attempt to introduce those issues that are not related to the 12 recommendations of the European Union", said Shalva Papuashvili.
