No quorum: Parliament fails to hold final session

In Georgia today the country’s Parliament failed to hold its last plenary session due to the lack of quorum, as only 30 lawmakers of the 150-seat legislative body turned up to participate in the session.

For Parliament to conduct business, at least 76 Members of Parliament (MPs) must be present.

Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili apologised to the people of Georgia for today’s disruption.

I hope on October 8 we will elect a Parliament that will honesty fulfill its responsibilities from the first day to the last one,” Usupashvili said. 

Today lawmakers were due to discuss and vote on several important topics, including voting for three nominees for Supreme Court Judge. 

The Georgian President’s Parliamentary Secretary Anna Dolidze said the disruption of today’s session indicated the absent lawmakers had a low view of the court.

Parliament has failed to discuss the election of judges for the Supreme Court for the sixth time due to the absence of lawmakers. This indicates the [poor] attitude of parliamentary political forces regarding the court system,” Dolidze said. 

Meanwhile Parliament’s Vice Speaker Manana Kobakhidze said there was "nothing special” or surprising about today’s disruption, as political parties were more engaged with their pre-election campaigning. 

It’s quite hard to gather MPs together in the pre-election period as many of them are involved in pre-election campaigning. The  Parliament regulation also says the legislative body must suspend activities one month before the elections, which is not a random note,” Kobakhidze said. 

The current Parliament of Georgia is the eight Parliament in the history of independent Georgia and was elected through the 2012 October Parliamentary Elections.