TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia is to change its Election Code so it complies with the recently amended constitution.

This means that Saakashvilis main competitor will have the right to participate in elections, and to establish and finance a political party.

According to the draft bill, the Election Code will be made to comply with the constitutional amendments which came into force last week. Following these amendments, Bidzina Ivanishvili, informal leader of Georgian Dream, is given the right to participate in elections.

According to the new bill, a new entry will be made in the Election Code’s transitional provisions stating that if a person was born in Georgia, is citizen of an EU member country and has been living in Georgia for the last five years, then all rights and obligations defined by the Election Code and the Law on Political Unions of Citizens will apply.

Despite the fact that these amendments were made specifically for Bidzina Ivanishvili, a fact also confirmed by government representatives, the businessman has said he does not plan to make use of these rights, the reason being that it’s not normal to adjust the constitution to suit the needs of one individual. He asks rather that his Georgian citizenship is restored.

President Mikheil Saakashvili revoked Ivanishvili’s Georgian citizenship in October, 2011, four days after the businessman had declared his political goals. It was Saakashvili who in 2004 granted him Georgian citizenship for special merits to the country.