President Margvelashvili appoints first session of new parliament

Today President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili used his exclusive right and appointed the first session of the new Parliament of Georgia.

The decree released by the President read the first session would be held tomorrow  in western Kutaisi city at 12pm. 

The Administration of the President of Georgia stated Margvelashvili was holding consultations over the date with all the relevant actors of the process. 

Based on the parliamentary procedures during the first session the legislative body will elect Parliament Speaker and Vice-Speakers. 

The Parliamentary majority, minority, a faction that isn’t affiliated with the majority or minority, or a group of six lawmakers are eligible to nominate candidates for the Parliament Speaker and Vice- Speakers, as well as heads for 15 committees in Parliament. 

A candidate for the Parliament Speaker has been only named by the ruling Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party, which gained 115 seats in the 150-member legislative body after the last month’s Parliamentary Elections. 

President of Georgia has an exclusive right to appoint the date of the first session of a newly elected parliament. Photo by President's press office. 

The future Parliament Speaker will be elected with majority of votes that is equivalent with at least of 76 votes. 

The elected Parliament Speaker names the candidacy for his/her first deputy. 

The ruling party has already voiced the position of the first Vice-Speaker would allegedly be occupied by former head of the local Non-Governmental Organisation Young Lawyers’ Association, Tamar Chugoshvili. 

The parliamentary majority has a right to name no more than three Vice-Speakers. The Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia has named two candidates-Zviad Dzidziguri and Giorgi Volksi for Vice-Speaker positions. 

Two other parties in Parliament-the United National Movement with 27 seats and the Alliance of Patriots with six seats-have already named their single nominees each for the Vice-Speaker. 

At the first session the ruling party also plans to form parliamentary committees and elect their chairpersons with the majority of votes, while their deputies would be elected later within the committees.