Saakashvili asks opposition to keep MP mandates to support constitutional amendment
Saakashvili had previously urged the opposition to leave their MP seats. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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MP from the United National Movement (UNM) Eka Kherkheulidze has said that the ex-president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili asks the opposition MPs to refrain from renouncing their mandates before the election bill providing for a lower election threshold is approved.
Saakashvili, who had previously urged the opposition to leave their MP seats, has seemingly changed his mind after the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) head Irakli Kobakhidze noted that the ruling party has ‘no obligation’ to support the election bill for a lower threshold.
However, Kherkheulidze maintains that Saakashvili has not changed his mind regarding boycotting the parliament.
This [election bill] is, I am quoting his [Saakashvili’s] words, an obligation towards the Georgian people and we have to fulfill it, she said.
Kherkheulidze added that although the UNM faction will support the election bill, it will continue boycotting the other parliamentary activities.
The constitutional amendment for a lower election threshold requires the support of at least 113 MPs in the 150-member state legislature, which means that both the ruling party, which has 90 MPs, and the opposition, should support it.
Lelo - Partnership for Georgia faction, which has also boycotted the parliament in support of Saakashvili, announced that its MPs will attend the parliamentary sessions to vote for the election bill in the coming days.
Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Irakli Kobakhidze, says that the party ‘has no obligation’ to support the constitutional amendments which offer a lower election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections.
The Lelo - Partnership for Georgia faction, composed of seven opposition MPs, has boycotted parliament's plenary sessions until arrested former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, is brought to a civil clinic to receive ‘proper medical care’ after a 33-day hunger strike.
Former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, has from prison urged opposition MPs to leave their mandates in protest, stating that the Georgian Dream (GD) government fabricated the results of recent municipal elections.
Head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze has responded to the criticism of the EU and US embassies on the removal of a stipulation from constitutional amendments on the election rule of Georgia's prosecutor general. Kobakhidze stated that the stipulation was ‘legal nonsense,’ noting that the US and EU ambassadors ‘are likely not to have had’ proper and correct consultations around the issue.
Lelo opposition party leader Mamuka Khazaradze has officially requested parliament earlier today to suspend his MP status to ‘continue the fight on the street’ for the annulment of the recent municipal election results.
The Georgian opposition led by the United National Movement (UNM) is holding rallies in protest of the results of October 30 municipal election run-offs in Batumi and Rustavi. Claiming that the elections have been ‘stolen’ by the ruling Georgian Dream party, UNM leader Nika Melia, who ran for Tbilisi mayor, said in Batumi that the opposition will hold permanent rallies until ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili’s release.