Majority Leader: Picketing the Parliament is Action Against State
"Picketing the Parliament has nothing to do with the process of discussing the Election Code. This is an action against the state," Gia Volski, the first deputy speaker of parliament, told reporters.
As the majority leader noted, picketing Parliament, means "picketing the issues related to a number of directions, which are focused on the public interests."
“These are the issues of agriculture, economy, legal issues that the parliament has to discuss and perform its duty to the people and the country. This is what they do, they picket the parliament and simultaneously talk about the success of negotiations on election topics. This is a lie, it has nothing to do with the process of discussing what is called the Election Code. This is an action against the state," he said.
As the Parliament of Georgia is preparing to officially resume its legislative activity from tomorrow, February 4, the opposition is announcing "plan B" and intends to continue protests and picketing.
"If the government does not change this electoral system, we are going to arrange a 'corridor of shame' in front of the parliament tomorrow,” Sergi Kapanadze, one of the members of the European Georgia party, told reporters.
He said the opposition would continue boycotting the parliament, however, they were ready to take part in meetings with the authorities.
The protests in Tbilisi were sparked after the rejection of an election bill in November 2019, proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, offering a transition to a fully proportional electoral system from 2020 instead of 2024.
The demonstrators accuse 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 demand a second hearing in Parliament regarding the proportional elections, and some are pushing for snap elections.
By Ana Dumbadze
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