Lelo – Partnership for Georgia faction ends parliament boycott, agrees to attend plenary sessions

The Lelo – Partnership for Georgia faction has stopped its boycott of parliament and agreed to attend plenary sessions as arrested former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili was brought to a civil clinic to receive proper medical care after his 50-day hunger strike.

• Lelo - Partnership for Georgia faction boycotts parliament

Lelo MP Ana Natsvlishvili said that Lelo had announced a boycott before Saakashvili was placed in a civil clinic and ‘after the issue was removed from the agenda, the faction decided to return to normal parliamentary life’.

All resources, including the parliamentary tribune, should be fully used by the opposition.  It is in the interest of the government for the parliament to lose its function… I think we [Lelo – Partnership for Georgia] should maintain the parliamentary platform”, said Natsvlishvili.

Co-founder of Lelo Badri Japaridze said on November 19 that the party would end the boycott after Saakashvili was taken to Gori military hospital.

The Lelo – Partnership for Georgia faction boycotted parliament on November 2.

Leader of the European Georgia opposition party Giga Bokeria said Lelo’s recent decision is ‘absolutely incomprehensible and illogical in the eyes of international partners’.

• Ex-pres. Saakashvili agrees to be transferred to Gori military hospital, to stop hunger strike

Mikheil Saakashvili accepted the Georgian government’s offer to be transferred to Gori military hospital and stopped  the 50-day hunger strike.

Saakashvili, who is serving a sentence for abuse of power, considers himself a political prisoner and has been on hunger strike since the day he was arrested in Tbilisi on October 1. 

The opposition, NGOs and international community actively called on the Georgian government to admit Saakashvili into the civil hospital and to ensure proper medical care for him.