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Opposition Coalition, Labor Party Attack Each Other

The opposition coalition has continued its attack on the Labor Party for, as it put it, deliberately dragging out the process of renouncing its MP mandates.

Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party – part of the opposition coalition – and Giorgi Gugava of the Labor Party went head-to-head on a Kavkasia TV talk-show on June 30, accusing each other of lying to voters.

The parliamentary committee for procedural issues rejected on June 26 the Labor Party’s appeal to renounce their MP mandates on the grounds that it was not written in the appropriate manner. Four MPs from the Labor Party, including its leader Shalva Natelashvili, wrote in the official appeal that they wanted to withdraw from “the headquarters of the ruling party” – referring to Parliament  – and the parliamentary chairman was described as the head of this headquarters. The Labor Party has explained that it doesn’t recognize Parliament as a legitimately elected body and would not refer to it as the Parliament of Georgia.

“If you really want to renounce your mandates you should write the appeal in a form like it was done by twelve persons from the opposition [coalition], whose mandates have been abrogated,” Kukava told Gugava. “The Labor Party has professional lawyers – Shalva Natelashvili himself is a good lawyer – and they definitely know how to write appeals. We have referred to the Parliament in our appeal as “illegitimate Parliament” but our appeal was written in a proper manner that did not give the Parliament any ground to reject it.”

Gugava sidestepped a direct question about whether his party would make a repeat appeal to Parliament and instead attacked the opposition coalition, accusing it of “making deals with the Saakashvili regime.”

Levan Berdzenishvili of the Republican Party said later on the same talk-show that he shared the opposition coalition’s stance about the Labor Party, but also added that he believed the Labor Party would eventually renounce their MP mandates and would not enter Parliament.

Twelve of the 31 opposition politicians have renounced their MP mandates. Two of the Labor Party’s six MPs have entered Parliament, while the other four, including the party leader, although are not engaged in parliamentary activities, are officially members of Parliament.

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