Mdinaradze on Recent Key Political Developments in Georgia
On November 19, Mamuka Mdinaradze, executive secretary of the ruling Georgian Dream party and parliamentary majority leader, held a briefing and spoke about the opposition’s allegations of election fraud, the police dispersal of the rally near TSU, the President’s appeal to the Constitutional Court, the EU’s position on the Georgian elections, and other issues related to recent developments in Georgia.
Dispersal of Protests on Morning of November 19
Mdinaradze thanked the police and the Interior Ministry for what he said was” enforcing the law in a professional and peaceful manner” during the dispersal of the 48-hour protest near Tbilisi State University, during which 16 people were arrested and physically assaulted, with what observers said was disproportionate use of force. He said that the Georgian state could not allow “a few dozen people and “opposition agents” to paralyze the streets of the capital.
He noted that the opposition was “encouraged” to carry out such “extremist” actions by the visit of “foreign politicians” who called on them “to organize a Maidan in Georgia”, after which he said they “peacefully” returned to their countries.
Mdinaradze addressed the obstruction of journalistic work during protest rallies, offering his support for all those who have been subjected to harassment, pressure and violence, but focusing only on the cases involving pro-government TV channels and reprimanding the representatives of the opposition-leaning channels for not supporting their colleagues and not talking about these cases. “Such criminal acts, we strongly and clearly state, should not go unnoticed by the public or investigative bodies, especially when obstructing a journalist in his professional activities is a crime under the Criminal Code and everyone should take this into account,” he concluded.
President’s November 18 Briefing
Commenting on the November 18 “absurd” statement of the “so-called President” Salome Zurabishvili, Mdinaradze said that she had talked about everything but the answer to the most interesting question for the people – whether she would convene the new Parliament or not. “If not, she will once again violate the Georgian Constitution, because she will not fulfill the constitutional duty of the President,” he noted, clarifying that if she refuses to fulfill this duty, according to the Georgian Constitution, the Parliament will convene 10 days after the announcement of the official election results – on November 25. He also pointed out that the president has no legal authority to put a stop to this process by filing an appeal with the Constitutional Court.
Election Results and Mandates
Mdinaradze also said that the opposition’s decision to reject the MPs’ mandates and revoke their proportional lists “has no legal basis”, as they have no legal means to do so without the Parliament’s recognition of their mandates. He said that after the session of the Parliament, they will have the opportunity to write official appeals to the Chairman of the Parliament revoking their MP mandates and proportional lists. Mdinaradze stressed that, in his opinion, the opposition is well aware of these details, and claimed they are demanding the revocation now “because they don’t plan to do it after the Parliament convenes”,” and tell people that they have have given up their mandates.
While discussing the elections, the parliamentary majority leader reiterated his call to the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) to publish the results of the parallel vote count instead of spreading “absurd statements” about gender imbalances in certain districts that, he alleged, “have no influence on the election results.”
Opposition Letter to the EU and EU Member States
During the Q&A portion of the briefing, Mdinaradze also commented on the letter from the opposition coalitions to the EU, in which the opposition leaders ask the Union not to recognize the legitimacy of the 2024 parliamentary elections and the new Parliament. He said that the letter represents the “agony” of the opposition and that they should no longer be called “agents” because this word can also have other meanings, such as “insurance agent,” and that from now on they should be called “spies,” and that “they proved that they are spies by demanding the halt of the EU integration process in this letter” the intent of which, was he said “to harm Georgia and the Georgian people.”
EU Enlargement Report
Asked about the European Commission’s enlargement report, which states that the revival of the EU integration process requires the abolition of the anti-LGBTQ+ and foreign agents laws, he stated: “I don’t care about EU integration if it has to go through LGBT propaganda.” He emphasized that the GD party will not enter into any deliberations on these laws – especially regarding the anti-LGBT+ law, but stressed that Georgia protects and will protect the rights of minorities “better than any other country in the world”.
Mdinaradze also spoke about how, during the Central Election Commission (CEC) meeting on the final election results, the opposition representative confronted the CEC chairman, calling him a “black spot” of Georgian history and splashing black paint on his face. He said that if this was an “acceptable form of protest”, he guaranteed [the opposition] “won’t be able to walk the city without the ink marks.” He added: “Many of our supporters are eager to pour black paint or ink on these deceitful agents.” He went on to say: “Many people call us every day and say: “Let us protest too, didn’t we vote? If there are more than a million hundred thousand of us, who is going to protect our rights…”? Surprising as it may be, perhaps I am being too honest at the moment, we have to keep these people back”.
The EU Technical Mission to Investigate Alleged Electoral Fraud
Finally, Mdinaradze was asked whether the Georgian Dream government plans to cooperate with the “technical mission” that the EU plans to send to Georgia, to which he replied that he had no idea what this mission was, why it would have a legal basis to investigate allegations of electoral fraud in Georgia, what kind of format it would have, and even stressed that the EU itself had no idea what this mission really was. He said that the GD will decide how to act based on the format of this mission and the sovereign interests of the country.
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