The Georgian Parliament plenary session, scheduled for 12:00, could not start due to a lack of quorum. Registration of 76 deputies is required to open the session. The first time, only 71 were registered, and the second time, 73. The session was postponed until 15:00.
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From the opposition, only members of Girchi and European Socialists, as well as Teona Akubardia and Tariel Nakaidze, were present in the plenary session hall. The rest of the opposition announced a boycott.
Teona Akubardia connects the non-attendance of Georgian Dream members at the meeting with the visa sanctions imposed by the US State Department last week. "At the first session after the US sanctions, Georgian Dream failed to gather a quorum, and the parliamentary session failed to take place despite two unsuccessful attempts. Although Shalva Papuashvili resents the boycott by the opposition, it appears that members of his own team are also in boycott mode.
The use of remotes by other deputies occurred, as evidenced by the quorum sheet. Georgian Dream itself violates the regulations because the MPs of Georgian Dream on the list, who are supposed to be present at the parliament session, were not physically present in the hall," Akubardia said.
"In general, we really wanted to take advantage of political speeches today, but we also know that 18 LGBT laws have been introduced, which the Georgian Dream really wants to adopt. They should pass it themselves. No one should be involved in such sacred work. It turned out that, since the quorum was formed with our participation, we had to help Kotsebi (GD supporters) pass the LGBT law. We had no such interest. Therefore, let's congratulate the Georgian Dream on this work alone. They should gather the necessary deputies themselves, go through sufficient registration, and support themselves," said the leader of Girchi, Iago Khvichia.
At today's meeting of the Bureau, Speaker of the Parliament Shalva Papuashvili proposed an initiative to write the boycott issue "more clearly" in the regulations of the Parliament of the next convocation. "Boycott does not mean that someone is too lazy to go to work and therefore writes that he does not come, or he does not like someone or something, or he is in a bad mood or has some political reasons. Boycott refers to not attending the session because of the issue under discussion. Essentially, this should mean not attending some part of the plenary session when this issue is discussed," Papuashvili said.
Part of the parliamentary opposition, including the United National Movement, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, and Lelo, announced a boycott due to the adoption of the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents.
