Girchi: if parliament suspends status for 51 opposition MPs, we’ll also request suspension
Georgian parliament will vote on the suspension of status for 51 opposition MPs tomorrow. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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Three MPs from the Girchi libertarian party have asked the ruling Georgian Dream party not to vote for the suspension of MP status for 51 opposition MPs tomorrow per their request.
Members of Girchi Iago Khvichia, Aleksandre Rakviashvili and Vakhtang Megrelishvili have stated that if the ruling party MPs, who number 90 in the 150-member parliament, approve the cancellation of opposition MPs’ mandates, they (Khvichia, Rakviashvili and Megrelishvili) will also request the suspension of their MP status.
MPs from six of eight opposition parties have requested the suspension of their MP status so far.
They say that the October 31 parliamentary elections in Georgia were fabricated and are demanding repeat elections.
Only MPs from Girchi and Citizens have not requested the suspension of their status.
Girchi MPs have appealed to the ruling party to take their 'sincere request' into account. Photo: netgazeti.
Girchi says that if the ruling party votes for the suspension of MPs’ status for opposition legislators tomorrow the step will make the current political crisis more severe and endanger the ongoing election talks between the ruling party and the opposition which are mediated by foreign ambassadors.
Girchi won four seats in the 10th convocation of the Georgian parliament. However, one of its founders Zurab Japaridze quit the party shortly after the elections and created a new Girchi party.
Unlike Megrelishvili, Khvichia and Rakviashvili Japaridze has requested the suspension of his MP status.
As of now only four of 60 opposition MPs (former members of Alliance of Patriots) have entered parliament and two other opposition MPs from the Citizens party have stated they will take up their mandates.
Six of eight opposition parties and election blocs who have won seats in the 10th convocation of the Georgian parliament have released a joint statement earlier today in which they said that ‘only the conduct of repeat, democratic parliamentary elections can solve the current political crisis’.
Four members of the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots opposition party, who were on the party’s election list for the October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections, have left the party earlier today and entered the parliament amid the opposition’s boycott.
The fifth round of election talks mediated by foreign ambassadors between the ruling Georgian Dream party and eight opposition parties and blocs has been postponed.
The founder of libertarian Girchi party Zurab Japaridze says that he will not cooperate with fellow members and figures of the party Iago Khvichia, Vakhtang Megrelishvili and Aleksandre Rakviashvili.
The Georgian parliament has not suspended the MP status of 51 opposition MPs earlier today per their request. None of the ruling party MPs, who are 90 in the 150-member parliament, voted for the cancellation of MP status. Member of the United National Movement opposition party Roman Gotsiridze has stated that the ruling party ‘is afraid of the reactions of international partners’ and that is why they refused to vote for the suspension of status for opposition MPs.
Former member and a contributor of pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots opposition party Avtandil Enukidze was elected vice-parliament speaker earlier today.
Two members of opposition Republican Party Khatuna Samnidze and Tamar Kordzaia are ready to enter parliament if the ruling Georgian Dream party proposes a bill on zero electoral threshold for proportional list. However, following the voting they would again revoke their mandates.