Senaki Municipal Assembly session with no quorum called “unbelievable” by ruling party MP
"The joint activities of the Saakashvili-Gakharia parties are already a common story, but the fact that there was not a single person saying that it is unbelievable madness to open and hold a session in a 33-member Senaki Municipal Assembly with 16 deputies is surprising,” Mdinaradze said, referring to the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili and For Georgia party leader and former GD prime minister Giorgi Gakharia. Photo: Georgian Dream press office.
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Ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party MP Mamuka Mdinaradze has responded to a session involving the municipal assembly in the western Georgian town of Senaki on Wednesday, where members from opposition parties gave a go-ahead to the meeting without having a quorum of required members, by calling it “unbelievable”.
Mdinaradze reacted to the session by saying "an incredibly comic incident has taken place in 21st century Georgia", criticising the decision to hold the meeting and alleging informal ties between different opposition groups.
The joint activities of the Saakashvili-Gakharia parties are already a common story, but the fact that there was not a single person saying that it is unbelievable madness to open and hold a session in a 33-member Senaki Municipal Assembly with 16 deputies is surprising,” Mdinaradze said, referring to the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili and For Georgia party leader and former GD prime minister Giorgi Gakharia.
Mdinaradze, who is also the executive secretary of the ruling party, stressed the regulatory requirement that said holding municipal assembly sessions was authorized if attended by more than half of the full member composition. In the case of Senaki, the requirement would involve at least 17 members for a successful quorum.
Nevertheless, these two parties, already in a coalition, started a non-existent session without a quorum, adopted so-called ‘decisions’, ‘dismissed’ the Chairman of the Mandate Commission and ‘appointed’ a member of the [United] National Movement [opposition party] in his place, supported by Gakharia's party members,” Mdinaradze said.
Local self-government elections took place in Georgia in October 2021, with the ruling party winning mayoral elections in 63 of 64 constituencies and gaining 47 percent in the proportional part of the race.
However, the opposition won a majority in seven out of 64 municipalities - the cities and towns of Batumi, Zugdidi, Martvili, Chkhorotsku, Tsalenjikha, Rustavi and Senaki.
The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has named its majoritarian candidates for by-elections scheduled for April 2 in Georgian cities of Rustavi and Batumi earlier today. GD Head Irakli Kobakhidze introduced Irakli Shatakishvili and Ramaz Jincharadze as Rustavi and Batumi majoritarian candidates, respectively.
Former Georgian prime minister Giorgi Gakharia's For Georgia party member Korneli Salia has been elected the chairman of Tsalenjikha Municipal Assembly. By electing Salia, Tsalenjikha has become the only municipality in Georgia where both the mayor (UNM's Giorgi Kharchilava) and the head of assembly are from opposition.
Former Georgian prime minister Giorgi Gakharia's For Georgia party member Shota Tsurtsumia has been elected the chairman of Chkhorotsku Municipal Assembly. In winning the spot, Tsurtsumia has become the first opposition member in the country to be elected an assembly head.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has met with the newly elected mayors from municipalities across Georgia and pledged the support of the central government in the undertaking of various projects.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has filed a lawsuit against a decision made by the municipal assembly in the western Georgian city of Senaki earlier this month, alleging illegitimacy of the selection of an opposition member by the local council due to absence of quorum.