Further inflaming the deep political crisis that has scarred Georgia’s political life since the 2020 elections, Georgian Dream pushed ahead with stripping three key opposition MPs of their parliamentary mandates.
Timing and manner in which Shalva Natelashvili, leader and the only elected member from Labour party, Helen Khoshtaria of Droa Party and Badri Japaridze of Lelo were expelled from parliament have also fueled concerns of Georgia’s backsliding.
The motion on Labour’s Natelashvili was passed days after he said he would enter parliament as the party’s sole elected MP. Alongside other opposition parties, Natelashvili had engaged in boycotting parliament following the 2020 parliamentary elections, which the opposition declared manipulated in a decisive way, as a result of which winners and losers were swapped.
In case of Natelashvili and Khoshtaria, Georgian Dream majority used their political boycott of parliament as the legal basis for the cancellation. In Japaridze’s case, a court decision which had passed statutes of limitations and which has widely been viewed as politicized was cited.
Reacting to the decision, the EU Ambassador Carl Hartzell said the decision was “at the expense of political inclusiveness and democratic pluralism.”
Acting US Ambassador Ryan Harris stressed that terminating Japaridze’s mandate based on a court ruling where the statute of limitations had expired “raises questions about rule of law, weakens parliament and runs counter to GD’s stated goal to reduce polarization in parliament”.
In response, Georgian Dream Chair Irakli Kobakhidze lashed out at Harzell calling his comments as “unfair and subjective”, adding GD “will pay less attention to such statements”.
Following the 2020 parliamentary elections the opposition claimed manipulations combined with violence, intimidation and dramatic disparity of resources altered the election outcome in a way that the parliament elected in 2020 did not represent the will of the people.
Subsequently, the EU and US Ambassadors mediated a process which later evolved into engagement of the EU Council President Charles Michel involvement and signature of an Agreement between GD and part of the opposition on April 19.
While signatory opposition parties entered parliament legitimacy of which they still dispute, GD committed itself to halt all judicial appointments before adoption of fair and competitive rules as well as adopt a comprehensive and inclusive election reform as well as reduction of election threshold.
GD later quit the deal.
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