Ruling party rejects opposition calls to restore parliamentary proportional lists amid vote on suspending MPs

The ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party has rejected calls made by opposition figures to restore proportional lists that would allow replacement of MPs whose status is being suspended in voting in the legislative body, with officials from the party pointing out to a past support for removal of the reserve lists by the opposition. 

GD member and Deputy Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze said the ruling party wouldn’t “correct the mistake” made by the opposition United National Movement (UNM), after the latter requested earlier today a restoration of reserve lists for parties, marking a U-turn on UNM’s 2020 opposition to the lists.

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Talakvadze pointed out the ruling party had tried to convince the opposition following the 2020 parliamentary elections not to abolish the lists, adding “we [tried to] persuade [UNM] it was a wrong political decision.” A majority of opposition parties supported removal of the lists in protest following the elections. 

UNM MP Khatia Dekanoidze stressed the importance of an “open discussion” around the prospect of restoring the proportional reserve lists “in order to return to the Georgian citizens the mandate, which actually turned out to be political theft and nothing more.”

Ruling party MP Sozar Subari responded to the UNM request by saying “the law cannot be changed by the will of five people,” adding the opposition “insulted the principle of democracy and parliamentarism and their colleagues” with its calls.

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The disagreement over the reserve lists has been activated by the ongoing process of the parliament voting on suspending MP status for three opposition members. In case of the legislative body approving the move, the seats of the MPs in question would remain vacant in the absence of reserve party lists.

The suspension is being voted on for Elene Khoshtaria from Droa party, Shalva Natelashvili from Labour Party and Badri Japaridze from Lelo.

For Khoshtaria and Natelashvili, the termination of their MP status has been prompted by their absence from all sessions of the legislative body during the autumn season. The parliamentary regulations allow for suspension of member status in such cases. The leader of the Labour Party announced on February 10 he had decided to engage in the parliamentary activities, saying the decision had been made by the party's political committee.

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For Japaridze, the termination is voted on due to his conviction of fraud in a case dating back to 2008. Japaridze, a co-founder of TBC Bank and a current leader of Lelo, was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to seven years in prison by Tbilisi City Court on January 12, along with TBC co-founder and Lelo leader Mamuka Khazaradze.

Several opposition MPs have called on Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili not to support the revocation of the MP status for Natelashvili and Japaridze, calling the potential suspension a “heavy blow” for the country’s democracy.

However, Papuashvili responded by saying the parliament was obliged to review the case, adding “until this issue is considered and voted on, we can not move on to other issues on the agenda.”