The first session of the new parliament was held in Georgia — the president, the opposition and activists boycotted it

On November 25, a meeting of the Parliament of Georgia of the 11th convocation was held in Tbilisi. The opposition and the countryʼs president Salome Zurabishvili do not recognize him as legitimate.

This is reported by Echo of Caucazus.

88 MPs registered for the session — exclusively members of the leading party "Georgian Dream", which, according to the Central Election Committee, won about 54% of the votes and won 89 out of 150 seats in the parliament. Other seats were distributed among opposition political forces. These are "Coalition for Changes" (19 mandates), "Unity — National Movement" (16), "Strong Georgia" (14) and "Gakharia — for Georgia" (12).

The countryʼs constitution stipulates that the first meeting of the new parliament shall be held no later than on the tenth day after the official announcement of the election results. The session must be appointed by the President of Georgia. However, Salome Zurabishvili refused to do so and filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, demanding the annulment of the voting results.

Acknowledging the powers of deputies before the court has completed consideration of the lawsuit is illegal, members of the Association of Young Lawyers believe. They refer to the provisions of Article 86 of the Regulations of the Legislative Body of Georgia. Lawyers urged the deputies to stop the session.

"The Constitutional Court is considering the dispute regarding the constitutionality of the elections, the legality of the mandates of all 150 deputies is disputed. At this time, the parliament is obliged to wait for the courtʼs decision. Any decision that the parliament takes in such circumstances will be illegal: not only the recognition of its powers, but also the law, the budget and the vote of confidence in the government," says a specialist in political law Vakhushti Menabde.

Despite this, "Georgian Dream" continued the session. The pro-government deputies voted to recognize the powers of the parliament with 150 lawmakers. Among them are those who do not recognize the election results and refuse to enter the parliament. Deputy Shalva Papuashvili was elected to the position of Speaker of the Parliament. Mamuka Mdynaradze will head the "Dreams" faction. Also, pro-government politicians appointed heads of committees.

• Protesters spent the whole night against November 25 under the parliament building in Tbilisi. Thatʼs how they protested against the meeting, because "Georgian Dream" was going to hold it on Monday anyway.

Parliamentary elections in Georgia

Parliamentary elections in Georgia were held on October 26, 2024. According to the Central Election Commission, the pro-government party "Georgian Dream — Democratic Georgia" won with 53.9% of the vote. According to Georgian laws, this party gets the right to single-handedly form the government.

Four more pro-Western opposition parties overcame the 5% barrier: "Coalition for Changes" — 10.92%, "Unity — National Movement" — 10.12%, "Strong Georgia" — 8.78% and "Gakharia — for Georgia" — 7.76%. The opposition did not agree with the results and started protests. At the beginning of November, the court of the city of Tetri-Tskaro in the south of Georgia satisfied the lawsuit to annul the results of the October 26 parliamentary elections. The reason is a violation of the secrecy of the vote. The invalidity of the results was established in 30 polling stations.

Later, the Tbilisi Court of Appeal overturned the decision of judge Volodymyr Khuchua, who confirmed the violation of the secrecy of voting in the parliamentary elections.

Deputies of the opposition coalitions "Unity — National Movement" and "For Change" in Georgia announced their withdrawal from the new parliament. They accuse the ruling party "Georgian Dream" of falsifications during the elections.

The head of the Central Election Commission, Giorgi Kalandarishvili, officially confirmed the victory of "Georgian Dream". Then the representative of the CEC from the opposition "United National Movement" Davyd Kirtadze splashed black paint on his colleague.

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