1st Plenary Session of Newly Elected Parliament Opens

The plenary session of the Parliament of the 10th convocation has been opened. The sitting was opened by the President in accordance with the rules established by the Constitution, who addressed the MPs gathered in the Parliament.

The first plenary session is attended by government officials, including the Prime Minister, the diplomatic corps, the Mayor of Tbilisi and clergy.

At today's sitting, the MPs will elect the Speaker of the Parliament and vote for the candidates for the chairmen of the committees.

Notably, at the first sitting of the parliament of the 10th convocation, only the deputies of the Georgian Dream are represented, although the parliament recognizes the authority of all 150 members by a majority of votes. After that, the powers of the previous convocation parliament will be terminated.

In parallel with the meeting of the Parliament of the 10th convocation, the united opposition members and their supporters are gathered outside the building and are addressing the audience. They refuse to enter the Parliament of the 10th convocation and take up their mandates obtained as a result of elections, as they believe that the election results were rigged by the incumbent government. 

Today, the 5 opposition parties gathered near Tbilisi Youth House and signed three documents.

The first document is a statement by the entire opposition spectrum that the elections were rigged and they do not recognize the results of the October 31 election. 

The second document is the statements of the representatives of the specific opposition political parties who, according to the election results, won seats, but refused to enter the parliament and renounced the mandates.

The third document is a party statement addressed to the head of the Central Election Commission Tamar Zhvania regarding the "withdrawal of the lists."

The memorandum was signed by the following parties: "Lelo for Georgia", "Labor Party", "European Georgia", "Strategy Builder" and "National Movement". Opposition parties Girchi, Republican Party and Aleko Elisashvili - Citizens are not present at the process of signing the documents prepared by the opposition. "Girchi" and "Republican Party" state that they are refusing the mandates but do not see the necessity to participate in the confirmatory ceremonies.

By Ana Dumbadze 

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