Opposition Leader Mamuka Khazaradze Calls on Gakharia’s Party to Renounce Parliamentary Mandates

Mamuka Khazaradze, the leader of the opposition coalition Strong Georgia, has called on Giorgi Gakharia‘s Party Gakharia for Georgia to renounce its parliamentary mandates. He argued that just as the international community had isolated the “illegitimate government” of the GD, it was equally important to isolate them internally, leaving them no room for manoeuvre and “putting them in their place legally”.

“Staying in this parliament with Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Russian government means doing Russian business and Bidzina Ivanishvili’s business,” Khazaradze said at a press briefing on February 7.

Khazaradze said that revocation by the GD rump parliament on February 5 of mandates of the opposition alliances, which had passed the 5% at the disputed 2024 parliamentary elections, effectively left the parliament with 89 MPs, which prevents the rump one party parliament from “taking any legitimate decisions.”

He further cited the cases in which the GD parliament lacks the number of votes, citing that 113 votes are needed to amend the constitution; 113 to ratify certain international agreements; 100 to impeach president; 100 to sell land to foreign citizens, 90 to amend the Concordat; 90 to elect judges to the constitutional court; 90 to elect members of the High Council of Justice; and 90 to elect the Ombudsman.

Khazaradze went on to stress that although in practice there are only 89 MPs in the GD parliament, on paper there are more – 101 MPs, and the issue “comes to the Gakharia for Georgia party”. He said that not withdrawing Gakharia for Georgia‘s mandates was tantamount to facilitating the “covert legalisation and promotion” of what he called the “Russian government” in Georgia.

Although Giorgi Gakharia and his political party had said they consider the GD parliament illegitimate and have not participated in its work, the party has not officially renounced its 12 mandates, as opposed to the other three main opposition political forces – Unity-UNM, Coalition for Change and Strong Georgia, which chose to formally withdraw their party lists/mandates after the contested elections. On February 5, the GD-majority parliament responded by terminating 49 opposition MPs from these three parties of their mandates.

Khazaradze also emphasized that “dragging the decision due to considerations such as [parliamentary] immunity, or funding is absolutely unfair in this fight, irrelevant, not objective, and they (Gakharia’s party) must make an immediate decision.” He further added that “We, the people in this fight… have to know who our partner is and what kind of fight we have to continue for freedom.”

Earlier, on February 6, Khazaradze slammed Gakharia’s party in a Facebook post, accusing it of spreading Georgian Dream’s slanderous propaganda. “The banner spread by Gakharia’s party today is a direct copy of Georgian Dream’s slanderous propaganda,” Khazaradze wrote.

The banner to which Khazaradze referred showed the portraits of the three alliances’ opposition leaders and said “49 Natsi (a derogatory term used by Georgian Dream to refer to members and supporters of the United National Movement) expelled from Parliament”, referring to the termination of the mandates of three opposition MPs. The banner also read: “89 Natsi remain” – referring to Georgian Dream MPs; However, later on February 6, Berdia Sitchinava, member of For Georgia, noted that the party had no connection with this banner. The post is no longer found on Facebook.

Also Read:

• 05/02/2025 – GD Terminates Mandates of 49 Opposition MPs, Stages New Parliamentary Group Formation
• 15/01/2025 – Opposition Leader, TI-Georgia Executive Assaulted in Batumi
• 15/11/2024 – Strong Georgia Renounces MP Mandates
• 12/11/2024 – Coalition for Change, Unity-UNM Officially Renounce Their MP Mandates

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