One more parliamentary faction has been established within the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GDDG) parliamentary majority, increasing the total number of GDDG factions to six, according to the parliamentary bureau’s decision on January 23.
The newly established Georgian Dream – Greens faction unites one GDDG lawmaker from the Greens Party Giorgi Gachechiladze, plus five members from the Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia party, Zaza Gabunia, Irakli Abuseridze, Dimitri Mkheidze, Giorgi Begadze and Samvel Manukyan. The new faction will be chaired by MP Giorgi Gachechiladze.
Lawmakers in the new faction had to quit the Georgian Dream’s 92-member faction before joining the newly-established Georgian Dream – Greens faction.
The GDDG parliamentary majority, which consists of 116 lawmakers, united five factions until now; the Georgian Dream and Georgian Dream – Industrialists factions were established on November 18 at the new parliament’s inaugural session. Georgian Dream – Conservatives, Georgian Dream – Social-Democrats and Georgian Dream for Regional Development were established later, on December 26.
The UNM parliamentary minority united 27 lawmakers in two factions before the party’s split. On January 13, the group of 20 lawmakers who parted ways with UNM, renamed the party’s two factions to European Georgia and European Georgia for Better Future. The group also retained the status of the parliamentary minority.
Six UNM lawmakers who opted for staying in the party registered a new parliamentary faction under the name of the National Movement on January 23. The Alliance of Patriots, the third party to enter the parliament at the 2016 elections, forms one faction as well. Both factions work outside of parliamentary majority and minority groups.
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 debates and discussions in the Parliament.