Another opposition coalition, Strong Georgia, said it is appealing to the Central Election Commission (CEC) to revoke its party lists, Mamuka Khazaradze said at a briefing with other leaders of the coalition after its political council meeting on November 26.
Mamuka Khazaradze said that Strong Georgia had decided to renounce its MP mandates shortly after the October 26 elections, which it considers rigged. But he explained that they were waiting for the necessary legal conditions to fulfill their promise. According to the law, a party can formally ask the CEC to revoke its list only after Parliament recognizes the credentials of MPs at its first session. The first session of Parliament was held yesterday, and it recognized the credentials of all 150 MPs, although the legality of their election is being challenged in the country’s Constitutional Court.
Strong Georgia is the second opposition force to officially ask the CEC to withdraw its lists. The first was the Coalition for Change, which sent a request to the CEC yesterday. This leaves Unity-UNM coalition and ex-PM Giorgi Gakharia’s For Georgia party as the only ones who have yet to formally request the CEC to withdraw their lists. Both had said they consider the elections rigged and the Parliament illegitimate. While the Unity-UNM had earlier vowed to renounce its mandates, Gakharia’s team’s message has been that the party will not give legitimacy to the parliament, without specifying any concrete actions to do so.
Since the opposition does not recognize the Parliament, in which only GD sits, Strong Georgia also proposed to the political parties and civil society organizations the idea of forming an alternative representative body.
Levan Tsutskiridze, one of the leaders of Strong Georgia, listed three goals for this alternative body: 1. better representation, coordination and organization of the opposition; 2. creation of a united opposition front to engage in international relations with the country’s partners to ensure that the October 26 elections are not internationally recognized; 3. development of political programs necessary for Georgia’s integration into the EU, including the reforms enshrined in the President-initiated Georgian Charter.
Tsutskiridze said that negotiations with the Coalition’s partners on establishment of an alternative representative body have already begun.
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