Bill passes in 1st reading stripping parties of state funding if MPs refuse to enter parliament
The bill is likely to be voted on in its second reading at the end of January. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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The Georgian parliament has passed a bill in its first reading earlier today which strips parties of state funding if they refuse to take up their mandates in parliament.
Opposition MPs from six of eight parties which have won seats in parliament have already requested the suspension of their status.
They say that the elections were fabricated and are now demanding repeat elections.
Per the ruling party-initiated bill, the parties will not receive state funding if at least half of their MPs do not enter the legislature.
The bill also strips the parties of free media time and rejects election registration for the parties whose leaders violate the state constitution.
Ruling party MP Anri Okhanashvili said that the parties will not receive the state funding after the parliament officially accepts their resignation.
Ruling party MP Anri Okhanashvili said that the parliament is likely to vote on the suspension of status of opposition MPs during the spring session which means that opposition parties will receive state funding for six months. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
The issue is likely to be voted on in the spring,” Okhanashvili said.
He also said that if MPs will not take up their seats they should not receive the state funding and salaries.
Per the law one vote equals 15 GEL. If an MP refuses to take up his mandate and do his job why should he be funded by the voters’ money,” Okhanashvili said.
Fellow ruling party MP Irakli Kobakhidze has initiated the sending of the bill for recommendations to the CoE Venice Commission and ODIHR.
Let’s wait for their recommendations and only after have a vote on the bill in its second reading (by the end of January),” Kobakhidze said.
He stated that the recommendations ‘will leave no grounds to the opposition’ to criticize the bill.
Opposition parties and several NGOs say that the bill is to punish the opposition.
The Alliance of Patriots opposition party has requested the parliament suspend the status of their four MPs.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has initiated a bill which says that if political parties refuse to take up their mandates in parliament they will not receive state funding (or have it suspended for a year), their MPs will not receive salaries and they will not be able to use free media time during municipal and parliamentary elections.
Thirty-six MPs of the United National Movement-Strength in Unity election bloc have officially asked parliament to suspend their status. They claim that the elections were fabricated by the ruling Georgian Dream party and state that they will continue to fight from the street to force the government hold repeat elections. The Georgian Central Election Commission (CEC) annulled the party lists of five opposition parties earlier per their request yesterday, meaning candidates on the lists would not be able to replace opposition MPs who have officially refused to take up their mandates in parliament.
The Central Election Commission convened a session earlier today to summarise the final results of Georgia’s parliamentary elections. Having summed up the election results at today’s session, the CEC will now send the document to the parliament of Georgia, which will hold the first session of the tenth convocation within ten days.
MP from a pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots opposition party Avtandil Enukidze has told Rustavi 2 TV channel that he has plans to take up his mandate in parliament.
The US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has told Formula TV channel that she disapproves of a ruling Georgian Dream party-initiated bill which will strip opposition parties of state funding and free media time if they refuse to take up their mandates in parliament.
The European People’s Party (EPP) is ‘deeply concerned’ by the recent legislative initiative of a recent bill proposed by the ruling Georgian Dream party that would strip parties of state funding if they refuse to take up their mandates in parliament.
One of the main faces of the European Georgia opposition party, Elene Khoshtaria, has left the party and announced the creation of a new political force.
The parliament of Georgia has suspended the MP status for three of four members of the Alliance of Patriots opposition party earlier today, per the request of the MPs themselves.
Four members of the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots opposition party, who were on the party’s election list for the October 31, 2020 parliamentary elections, have left the party earlier today and entered the parliament amid the opposition’s boycott.
The Venice Commission of the Council of Europe has released its opinion on several Georgian bills and has called on the country ‘to reconsider several amendments to the Election Code, the Law on Political Associations of Citizens and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Georgia.’
Transparency International Georgia has stated that the ruling Georgian Dream party had almost half of all parties' total revenues and expenditures, each amounting to about 60 million GEL, last year.