Opposition MP: demand for snap elections “wrong”
Samnidze stressed the “number one” priority of the domestic political scene should be given the implementation of the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
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Khatuna Samnidze, an opposition MP and the Chair of the Republican Party, on Thursday said the demand for snap elections by a part of the domestic opposition was “wrong and a political short-sightedness”.
Samnidze stressed the “number one” priority of the domestic political scene should be given the implementation of the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status.
I think the demand for early elections is wrong - it is political short-sightedness - because today, the number one choice and priority should be the 12 recommendations [set out by the European Commission]”, Samnidze said.
“Whether there are early elections or not, the political process will show how the [ruling] Georgian Dream [party] behaves, but it is wrong to demand it today”, the opposition MP concluded.
Aleko Elisashvili, the leader of the Citizens opposition party, on Thursday said he would not join the rally scheduled by a part of the domestic opposition in central Tbilisi on April 9 due to its connection to the United National Movement opposition party.
Bacho Dolidze, a member of the opposition United National Movement party, on Thursday said Vano Merabishvili, a member of UNM and the former Interior Minister, was bringing “nothing but destructive” effects to domestic political processes.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Thursday said “creating a gulag system and oppressing people” was the “political philosophy” of the opposition United National Movement party.
Aleko Elisashvili, an MP from the Citizens opposition party, on Wednesday called on the United National Movement party and other opposition groups to join the ongoing work at the Parliament for fulfilling the European Union conditions for granting the country the membership candidate status later this year.
Thea Tsulukiani, the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Culture, Sport and Youth Affairs of Georgia, on Friday said it was “up to the European Union and not the domestic opposition” to set deadlines for the implementation of the bloc’s conditions for granting the country its membership candidate status.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the Chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Tuesday ruled out the prospect of early Parliamentary elections in the country and called on the domestic “radical” opposition to "concentrate on the elections instead of self-damaging rhetoric”.
Salome Samadashvili, an MP for the opposition Lelo party, on Thursday called the purpose of the rally scheduled by the opposition United National Movement party in Tbilisi on April 9 “unclear”.
Irakli Kadagishvili, the Chair of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday said snap Parliamentary elections could “not be legally held” with the scheduled 2024 voting approaching, and added there were “no political prerequisites” for calling a snap vote in the country.
Georgia's European perspective and the 2024 Parliamentary elections in the country were discussed on Tuesday in a meeting between representatives of the Georgian Parliamentary opposition and Jonathan Djanogly, the Chair of the Georgia All-Party Parliamentary Groups in the British Parliament.