The Georgian Dream majority has recognized the credentials of all 150 MPs of the new Parliament, although complaints to the Constitutional Court question their election legality, civil.ge reports.
“I once again congratulate all of you present and all those whose names have been mentioned as members of parliament,” Lado Kakhadze, the eldest member of Parliament chairing the first session, told the majority after the temporary chairman of the Mandate Commission, Irakli Kadagishvili, read out the list of all 150 deputies and the GD deputies present voted in favor of recognizing their credentials. Meanwhile, citizens protested against the first session of parliament outside the building. Heavy police forces have also been mobilized.
President Salome Zurabishvili, who does not recognize the elections, refused to convene the first session of Parliament, but the GD-majority decided to hold the first session anyway. Salome Zurabishvili has also challenged the election results in the country’s Constitutional Court, which legal experts say should have prevented a new Parliament from recognizing its authority and the credentials of all 150 MPs. They say the Constitutional Court complaint challenges the legality of the election of all the MPs, and until the court rules, the parliament has no right to recognize their credentials.
Of the four opposition forces that won the mandates, three – Unity-UNM, Coalition for Change and Strong Georgia – vow to renounce their MP mandates, while the remaining – Gakharia-For Georgia – says that it will not give legitimacy to the Parliament formed by the highly controversial elections, which all say were rigged.
