Parliament will vote on new Cabinet after lengthy discussion since afternoon

During the past six hours active discussions have been taking place at the Parliament of Georgia, where the Acting Prime Minister and ministerial nominees have been answering questions from the country’s lawmakers.

By the end of today’s session Parliament should vote and decide whether or not to support the country’s new Cabinet.

The Parliament meeting started at 12pm this afternoon. The meeting was opened with a speech by Georgia’s Acting Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili. Kvirikashvili presented his Cabinet and the four-year governmental plan.

This was followed by questions from lawmakers. The question-answer session took several hours and the Acting Prime Minister and ministerial candidates spoke about their plans and future projects. Also, about the ways they believed would be efficient for overcoming the challenges Georgia faced.

After this, heads of Parliamentary Committees delivered a five-minute speech each. This was followed by one-hour break.

What’s next?

The meeting will be resumed at 18.30 this evening. Members of Parliament (MPs) will be given three minutes each to deliver brief speeches.

This will be followed by speeches from factions and parliamentary majority and minority. Factions will have 10 minutes for their comments while the majority and minority will have 15 minutes each.

This will be followed by the final address from the Acting Prime Minister after which the vote will take place.

United National Movement and Alliance of Patriots lawmakers said yesterday they would not support the new Government. However, it is expected that the new Cabinet will receive the vote of confidence since the ruling Georgian Dream party holds 116 seats in Georgia’s 150-seat Parliament and only 76 votes is enough for the Cabinet to be confirmed.