Newly elected Parliament formed six factions – three from Georgian Dream (GD) parliamentary majority and three others from United National Movement (UNM) parliamentary minority groups – at its inaugural session on October 21.
Parliamentary faction is a group of at least six MPs, which gives certain 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, investigative and other ad hoc commissions and parliamentary delegations, as well as allocation of more time during the debates and discussions in the Parliament.
GD parliamentary majority, which consists of 85 lawmakers and led by MP Davit Saganelidze, has three factions, largest of which unites 65 MPs, mainly those from Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia (GDDG) party.
This faction, called Georgian Dream, is chaired by MP Zakaria Kutsnashvili of GDDG.
The second largest faction within the parliamentary majority is 11-member Georgian Dream-Free Democrats, which unites representatives of Our Georgia-Free Democrats party, which is led by Irakli Alasania, who is a nominee for the Defense Minister’s post. This faction is chaired by MP Irakli Chikovani.
The third faction within the parliamentary majority is composed of members from the Republican Party. This faction, Georgian Dream-Republicans, is chaired by MP Davit Berdzenishvili.
The parliamentary minority group, representing lawmakers from UNM, is led by MP Davit Bakradze, who was parliamentary chairman in the previous Parliament.
The largest faction within the parliamentary minority, United National Movement, unites 46 lawmakers and is chaired by MP Giorgi Gabashvili.
Second-largest faction within the parliamentary minority is UNM-Majoritarians with 7 lawmakers, chaired by MP Akaki Bobokhidze and the third faction, UNM-Regions, is composed of 7 lawmakers and chaired by Tariel Londaridze, a majoritarian MP from Aspindze single-mandate constituency.
UNM endorsed in the new Parliament total of 65 members, but five of them are not united in any of the three factions, which form the parliamentary minority group. Before the new Parliament was convened, some representatives of the Georgian Dream indicated that they were expecting several UNM members not to join the parliamentary minority group.
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