Tbilisi. The majority of non-governmental organizations sent an appeal to parliament. "The government-initiated draft of the Local Self-Governance Code was a compromise version negotiated by the leading political coalition. We believe that the proposed model does not fully reflect election promises made by Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian Dream Coalition, as well as principles declared in the government's March 1, 2013 local self-governance reform strategy. However, we, as representatives of civil society, have supported it none the less, because we believe that it will be the first important and irreversible step on the path to establishing genuine local self-governance in the country. ...Unfortunately, groundless concerns raised by opposition interests outside of the Parliament before the bill was submitted led to the removal of key innovations from the draft. ...We still hope that Georgian MPs will acknowledge their responsibility towards the population of Georgia, their constituents, and will not miss this chance to develop democracy on the local level".

Source:osgf.ge