Georgian parliament adopts new defence code in first reading

Georgian MPs voted in the first reading for a bill on a new Defence Code that would change the order of conscription for compulsory service.

Parliament's session on April 4 was broadcast live on the parliament's website, according to TASS.

According to the vote, the bill was supported by 80 MPs, with two opposed. Parliament also passed in the first reading a package of 46 bills related to the new Defence Code.

In December 2022, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced the need to review the army conscription system. Under the new Defence Code, service of 6, 8 and 11 months will be introduced.

Under the new conscription system, which will be introduced from 2025, people will be able to get postponement of military service just once, for a year, by paying 10,000 GEL (about $4,000). As the Defence Ministry of Georgia explained earlier, the document guarantees that the draft will be totally voluntary and if students want, they may have one-month term of military service during the vacations once a year for four years.

The bill cancels the deferment from the army to church workers. Previously, the law on military service in Georgia allowed priests not to serve in the army. This loophole in the law was used by the opposition party "Girchi", which in 2017 formed a non-governmental organization, called it a church, and issued clergy certificates to young people who did not want to serve in the army.