Four lawmakers from the Labor Party, including its leader Shalva Natelashvili, said they would renounce their MP mandates.
“This is an appropriate response to the violence and fraud committed by the authorities during the elections,” Natelashvili said at a news conference on June 16.
He also said that the party would annul the entire party list of MP candidates so as to prevent others on the list taking the Labor Party’s vacant MP seats.
A total of six candidates have been endorsed in the new parliament on the Labor Party’s ticket. Two of them – formally not Labor Party members – Nugzar Ergemlidze and Ramaz Tedoradze have already entered Parliament, triggering Labor Party leadership criticism.
Apart from Natelashvili, the others who have made an official appeal to Parliamentary Chairman Davit Bakradze, requesting to renounce their MP mandates, include: Joseb Shatberashvili, Giorgi Gugava and Kakha Dzagania.
The move comes after some initial hesitation from the Labor Party. Earlier, Natelashvili said he would not enter the new parliament, but he also said he was not planning to make an official request to renounce his MP mandate.
The Labor Party’s decision comes three days after a similar move by twelve lawmakers elected on the opposition coalition’s joint ticket.
As a result a total of sixteen lawmakers have launched procedures to renounce their MP mandates.
A total of thirty one opposition lawmakers were elected to Parliament in the May 21 parliamentary elections, which the opposition claims was rigged. The ruling National Movement party has 119 seats.
Meanwhile, also on June 16, MP Jondi Bagaturia, leader of Georgian Troupe party – elected on the opposition coalition’s joint ticket – called on other opposition politicians to reject the idea of boycotting Parliament. He is one of five lawmakers who have quit the coalition and entered Parliament. Bagaturia said on Monday that he would demand the establishment of a special parliamentary commission to investigate alleged electoral violations during the May 21 polls. Politicians from the opposition coalition have already downplayed Bagaturia’s proposal as unserious and a pretext to justify his decision not to boycott the new Parliament.
