Georgian Parliament to Move from Kutaisi to Tbilisi

From 2019, parliament sessions are to take place in the old parliament building in Tbilisi instead of the western Georgia city of Kutaisi.

Tamar Chugoshvili, First Vice-Speaker of Parliament, says it is more convenient if lawmakers are again working in the capital.

“We had several arguments in making this decision. One is that it is almost impossible to work in two buildings, in two cities. This damages the performance of the Parliament. Secondly, this is related to high costs. Thirdly, it is very difficult to strengthen the Parliament and its supervisory function when the government and the legislative body are in different cities,” Chugoshvili explained.

The Vice-Speaker added the building of parliament in Kutaisi might be handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Khatuna Gogorishvili, member of the parliamentary minority European Georgia, criticizes the legislative body’s decision to relocate Parliament to Tbilisi.

She slams the ruling team for making amendments to the regulations and notes that the existence of Parliament in Kutaisi is one of the main sources of income for the local population.

"This means that Kutaisi will not be a parliamentary capital, so the members of Parliament, hundreds of employees of the parliamentary staff will not come to Kutaisi, which means that locals will not have additional jobs and income and it will not help the urban development [there],” the MP stressed.

By Thea Morrison