Opposition Says It Aims to Thwart First Session of New Parliament

Not allowing the newly elected parliament to be convened is a top priority in order to then achieve repeat parliamentary elections, the opposition said at a protest rally outside the parliament on May 26.

“We do not know exactly when the first session will be convened,” Levan Gachechiladze, co-leader of the nine-party bloc, which acts as leading force of ongoing protests, told thousands of supporters at the rally.

“But our key goal is not to let the parliament convene its first session, even at the expense of bursting into the parliament,” Gachechiladze added. “We do not want to stand above the law and above the constitution. But it is ruled out that we will let a handful of criminals rule our country. We will not let them do it… Much depends on not letting the parliamentarians, who came through ballot rigging, hold a first session. In Georgia there is no president, and now there is no parliament.”

“Under conditions of governmental vacuum in the country, when we have no legitimate president and we already have no legitimate parliament, we, the representatives of the opposition parties, who have been elected by the people, plan to convene an alternative parliament,” Davit Gamkrelidze, another leader of the bloc, said at the rally. “From the very first day we will assume the responsibility for ruling country and holding free elections in the country. Some of these days we will hold the first session of this alternative parliament.”

“Illegal parliament will not be convened in Georgia and we will use force if it is needed for that purpose,” Gubaz Sanikidze of the National Forum – part of the nine-party bloc – said.

Earlier on Monday units of the riot police where deployed inside the building of the Parliament.