First Opposition Parliamentary Faction Established

Four Lelo party MPs and three other opposition lawmakers, Armaz Akhvlediani and Shalva Shavgulidze, elected through the European Georgia party list, and Salome Samadashvili, established today the Lelo – Partnership for Georgia faction, opposition’s first in the new Parliament.

The freshly-founded faction will be chaired by Lelo leader Badri Japaridze, with MP Samadashvili, who formally quit the United National Movement yesterday, serving as deputy faction chair.

Touching upon the faction’s plans, MP Japaridze noted that although they will not be able to push through “radical reforms,” the EU-brokered April 19 deal empowers them to “prepare the ground for fundamental reforms.”

MP Samadashvili stressed the opposition must now prepare together for the nearing local elections to defeat the ruling Georgian Dream party and secure holding early elections in 2022. “We must leave behind this harshest political crisis which has deprived the country of the chance for development,” she highlighted.

The remaining opposition parties and MPs have yet to form a parliamentary faction. According to the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure, currently, seven lawmakers are required to form a faction, however, the number is set to drop to four MPs shortly, as indicated in the EU-brokered April 19 deal. 

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