UNM Chairman: Picketing of Parliament will be Resumed from February 4

"The state institutions will be blocked and picketing of Parliament will be resumed from February 4," Roman Gotsiridze, chairman of the National Movement faction, told reporters. He said that the ruling team will collapse in the wake of the public protests before upcoming elections. 

"The Georgian Dream is not ready for fair elections in the country. The only thing they understand is power. So this force will be used and we will show them the will of the people. The picketing of the Parliament will be resumed from February 4. Unless the government fulfills its promises, the protests will not stop. In the wake of this protest, they will disband before the election. They have two alternatives: either give up or be disbanded before the elections,” Gotsiridze said.

The protests in Tbilisi were sparked after the rejection of an election bill in November, proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, offering the transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2020 instead of 2024.

The demonstrators accused the current state leadership of "breaking its promise and cheating people" as the ruling party agreed to conduct the 2020 parliamentary elections using a fully proportional electoral system, during the internationally renowned June protests in Tbilisi. Protesters demanded the second hearing in Parliament regarding the proportional elections and some pushed for snap elections.

Opposition representatives and civil activists have taken to expressing their protest by padlocking various government buildings and picketing their entrances, such as the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Government Administration. They claimed that the “padlock symbolizes the fact that these Offices are no longer functioning.”

By Ana Dumbadze

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