At the first session of parliament on November 25, which was attended and recognized only by Georgian Dream members, MPs elected the Speaker, Deputy Speakers and committee chairpersons. Many faces from the previous Parliament retained their posts, including the Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, who has been the Speaker in the 10th convocation of Parliament from 2021.
Although the President’s complaint to the Constitutional Court questions the legitimacy of the Parliament, the GD majority moved ahead anyway. In response, hundreds of citizens who consider the Parliament illegitimate have protested the first session of Parliament near the legislative building.
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Giorgi Volski and Nino Tsilosani have retained their roles as First Vice Speaker and Vice Speaker of Parliament, respectively. Tea Tsulukiani, the former Minister of Culture, has been elected as another Vice Speaker of Parliament.
The chairs of the parliamentary committees were elected as follows:
- Gela Samkharauli – Agrarian Issues Committee;
- Rati Ionatamishvili – Human Rights Committee;
- Givi Mikanadze – Education, Science and Youth Affairs Committee;
- Maia Bitadze – Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Committee;
- Shota Berekashvili – Sectoral Economy Committee and Economic Policy;
- Irakli Zarkua – Diaspora and Caucasus Issues Committee;
- Levan Makhashvili – European Integration Committee;
- Aleksandre Tabatadze – Defense and Security Committee;
- Giorgi Kakhiani – Legal Issues Committee;
- Giorgi Gabunia – Culture Committee;
- Irakli Kadagishvili – Regional Policy and Self-Governance Committee;
- Nikoloz Samkharadze – Foreign Relations Committee;
- Davit Matikashvili – Procedural Issues and Rules Committee;
- Paata Kvizhinadze – Budget and Finance Committee;
- Viktor Sanikidze – Sports Committee;
- Zaza Lominadze – Healthcare and Social Issues Committee.
Several of the committees have the same chairpersons as in the previous parliament, such as the Agrarian, Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Education, Environment, Finance, and Health committees.
Majority Leader Mamuka Mdinaradze said that Giorgi Kakhiani will head the Legal Issues Committee on a temporary basis for two weeks only. After that, he will be appointed Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. His successor as the committee chair will be Archil Gorduladze.
Mdinaradze also said that Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream’s honorary chair, Irakli Kobakhidze, Georgia’s Prime Minister, and Irakli Garibashvili, Georgian Dream’s chair, would soon resign their parliamentary mandates. He said that their presence on the party list was “formal.”
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