Parliament Confirms Credentials of 4 MPs
On November 9 the Parliament of Georgia confirmed the credentials of 4 MPs elected during the October 24 by-elections in four single-mandate constituencies of Georgia.
Thus, the Parliament of Georgia will have four new MPs – Olympic Champion Giorgi Asanidze, who won the elections in Tbilisi?s Krtsanisi single-mandate constituency, Teimuraz Cheishvili – from the Didube single-mandate constituency, Jumber Patiashvili ? from the Gori provincial constituency and Teimuraz Tsertsvadze ? from the Zestaponi constituency. All of them were supported by the ruling National Movement-Democrats party.
However, a small group of the opposition MPs from the Republican Party denounced the election of these MPs as illegal. The Republicans protested against amendments to the election code which were passed by the Parliament just before the October 24 by-elections.
Parliament approved an amendment to the election code on October 12 which says that the participation of one-third of all eligible voters will not be necessary to declare by-elections valid. Hence, the by-elections would have been announced valid no matter how many voters cast their ballot during the polls.
