Members of the Georgian Parliament from the ruling party "Georgian Dream" voted on February 5 to terminate the mandates of 49 deputies from opposition parties. The issue was put to a vote by the Chairman of the Procedural Issues Committee, David Matikashvili, who presented a list of opposition members who had previously submitted requests to terminate their mandates. The deputies elected from the "United National Movement," "Coalition for Change," and "Strong Georgia" requested to terminate their powers.
Now, the main legislative body of Georgia, whose legitimacy is not recognized by the opposition, consists of only 101 deputies. In fact, there are even fewer deputies: 12 members of parliament from the party of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, "For Georgia," although they boycott the work of the parliament, did not request to terminate their powers and did not withdraw the list. So, only 89 deputies from "Georgian Dream" are sitting in the parliament.
As noted by Paper Kartuli, after the 2020 elections, the opposition also boycotted the work in the parliament, but their mandates were not terminated, and eventually, the opposition members still began to work in the parliament. However, over five years, the situation has changed dramatically.
On February 5, the Georgian Parliament also approved the creation of an "investigative commission to investigate crimes committed during the period of the 'United National Movement' in power." UNM — the party founded by Mikheil Saakashvili, was the ruling party during his presidency from 2004 to 2012.
The decision was made unanimously by the deputies of "Georgian Dream," and they allocated only three months for the commission's work for now, but added that it will work for at least six months. The members of the commission will be determined within three days.
Photo: Paper Kartuli