Number of opposition MPs take up mandates after six-month political standoff
Opposition MPs have stated that a ‘new page has been opened’ in the country’s history today. Photo. RFE/RL.
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Opposition MPs who have signed the EU-mediated agreement with the ruling Georgian Dream party earlier this month have entered parliament earlier today.
Opposition MPs from Lelo, Strategy Agmashenebeli, Republican Party, Girchi -More Freedom,a as well as individual MPs from the United National Movement and European Georgia opposition parties Salome Samadashvili and Shalva Shavgulidze are attending the parliamentary session.
The United National Movement opposition party which took a majority (34 of 60) opposition seats in the 150-member parliament in the 2020 elections, European Georgia and Labour Party have not signed the agreement so far and are absent at today’s session.
According to the EU-mediated agreement an amnesty bill for convictions stemming from the June 2019 protests in Tbilisi should be registered today which will lead to the release of the head of the United National Movement party Nika Melia.
Opposition MPs in parlaiment. Photo: on.ge.
However, Melia stated yesterday that he is ready to post bail if parliament reflects the bill.
President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili should also pardon the co-founder of the opposition-minded TV channel Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua later today, according to the EU-mediated agreement, who had been convicted for illegal possession and carrying of firearms.
UNM member Samadashvili has stated in parliament earlier today that ‘a new page has been opened in the Georgian history.
We must end political persecution in the country and allow people to make a fair and a free choice,” she said.
The opposition MPs had to enter parliament amid protests of participants of June 2019 rallies who were calling the MPs ‘slaves and traitors’ for accepting the pardon of convicts for protests.
Currently imprisoned head of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia is ready to post bail and leave prison if parliament will not register the amnesty bill for convictions stemming from the June 2019 protests in Tbilisi, according to the recent EU-mediated agreement between the ruling Georgian Dream party and the opposition.
US Ambassador Kelly Degnan says that it is completely up to the United National Movement opposition party leader Nika Melia whether or not he leaves prison.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has announced today that she will pardon opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV co-founder Giorgi Rurua on April 27. Zurabishvili had stated earlier on April 19 that she would pardon Rurua if Georgian political parties signed the renewed EU-proposed agreement and if opposition MPs entered parliament.
The US Department of State has urged the remaining opposition parties and individual MPs to sign the EU-mediated agreement to resolve the political tension in Georgia which began after the October 2020 parliamentary elections.
Georgian parliament has elected Kakha Kuchava, 42, as the new speaker of the state legislature, replacing Archil Talakvadze in the post. 86 MPs voted for Kuchava in the 150-member parliament, including opposition legislators from Citizens and European Socialists. Kuchava holds a MA degree in Corporate Law from Nottingham Trent University.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned the co-founder of the opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi TV channel Giorgi Rurua shortly after opposition MPs took up their mandates earlier today, in line with the EU-mediated agreement.
The European Union Delegation to Georgia ‘warmly welcomes’ the decisions taken by Georgia’s political leaders in line with the European Council President Charles Michel's proposal aimed to solve the political tension in Georgia. It meanwhile calls on all other elected MPs ‘to join the agreement and contribute to its implementation, in the interest of Georgia, its citizens, EU-Georgia relations and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic future’.
Opposition politicians who signed the EU-mediated agreement on April 19 have called on others to consolidate their efforts and make the ruling party fulfil its obligations. They also call on the opposition politicians who refuse to sign the document to take more responsibility on the current political processes.
The United States Embassy to Georgia is ‘deeply disappointed’ by the ruling Georgian Dream party’s ‘rushed passage’ of amendments to Georgia’s Administrative Code.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has hosted opposition MPs at the Orbeliani palace to discuss current political affairs. President Zurabishvili met separately with leaders of Girchi, Citizens, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Lelo for Georgia and Repulican Party, as well as MP Salome Samadashvili.
Former member of the European Georgia opposition party David Bakradze has stated that he will continue work in the state legislature as an independent MP.
Salome Samadashvili from the United National Movement opposition party, Armaz Akhvlediani and Shavla Shavgulidze who appeared in the 10th convocation of the state legislature through the European Georgia opposition party list, have joined the Lelo opposition party faction in parliament.
The UNM announced it would be taking up its mandates in parliament late yesterday, after a six-month political standoff, saying that the reason they declined to sign the EU-mediated agreement is that ‘it includes several notes which are unacceptable for us.’ The embassies said in a joint statement that the agreement proposed by the European Council President Charles Michel back in April 2021, which was signed by six Georgian political parties and individual MPs, contains topics which are crucial for the country’s further democratic development.
The United National Movement (UNM) opposition party MPs attended their first session in the 10th convocation of the state legislature earlier today after a six-month political standoff.
The Venice Commission and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (ODIHR) advise "more holistic approach" and less frequent changes to Georgian election code in their urgent opinion document released on Friday.
The United National Movement (UNM), the largest opposition party in Georgia, has decided to join the April 2021 EU-mediated agreement after more than four months of refusing to do so.The UNM’s decision comes on the heels of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party’s withdrawal from the agreement at the end of July ‘because the main opposition, the UNM, refused to join the agreement,while other opposition parties were constantly violating it.’
Salome Samadashvili, a former leader of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party, will hold the post of the Political Secretary of Lelo, another opposition group.
Four MPs in the United National Movement parliamentary faction - the largest opposition in Georgia’s lawmaking body - on Wednesday left the group following their vote for three new, non-judge members in the country’s High Council of Justice enabled the ruling party-backed candidates to receive necessary support in the session.