Opposition MPs Set Up New Parliamentary Faction
Six opposition lawmakers, some non-partisan and others from various political parties, announced on July 18 about setting up of a new parliamentary faction.
The new faction will be chaired by MP Gia Tsagareishvili, who is a member of Our Georgia-Free Democrats party, led by Irakli Alasania.
New faction will also unite MP Jondi Bagaturia, leader of Georgian Troupe party; MP Petre Mamradze, member of ex-Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli’s now actually defunct party, as well as non-partisan MPs Karlo Kopaliani; Dimitri Lortkipanidze and a former ruling party MP Tamaz Diasamidze.
The creation of new faction does not change existing distribution of power across the parties in the ruling party-dominated Parliament; it is mainly about gaining some additional rights within the legislative body. Having a parliamentary faction – a formal grouping of at least six MPs – gives certain political privileges to its members, involving a seat and right to vote in the parliament’s bureau (the body which determines the parliamentary sessions’ agenda), guaranteed seats in committees, investigation commissions and parliamentary delegations, as well as allocation of more time during the debates and discussions in the Parliament.
In this case creation of the faction also means that it will have the right to nominate one of its members for one of the vacant vice-speaker’s post. It has been reported that the new faction will nominate MP Jondi Bagaturia for this post.
The new faction, which has been named as Unity for Justice, has announced that it had no intention to join a small parliamentary minority group in which Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM) is leading party.