Georgian ruling party reopens parliament despite opposition boycott

Opposition parties telephone the results of the October elections ‘illegitimate’ and garbage to instrumentality their seats successful the caller parliament.

Georgia’s ruling enactment has opened the archetypal league of parliament aft disputed elections and a boycott by the opposition.

Tensions escalated aft the governing Georgian Dream enactment was re-elected successful the October 26 elections with astir 54 percent of the vote, according to authoritative results.

Pro-Western absorption parties called the results “illegitimate” and refused to instrumentality their seats successful the caller parliament.

On Monday, Georgian Dream politicians entered parliament and opened the caller legislative league with nary absorption lawmakers present.

Outside the parliament building, protesters who had pitched tents since Sunday nighttime shouted “Russians” and “slaves” astatine arriving deputies.

Among the deputies who entered parliament was Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire erstwhile premier curate and the laminitis of the ruling party.

Ivanishvili is besides wide regarded arsenic the country’s astir almighty man.

One protester connected Sunday nighttime told the Reuters quality bureau that the ruling party’s occurrence was an existential crisis.

“Our state is connected the verge of collapsing truthful we truly privation to support it due to the fact that we truly emotion our country,” she said.

Referring to Ivanishvili, she added: “There is nary different way, and we volition not fto the oligarch bargain our contiguous and our aboriginal arsenic well.”

‘Election fraud’

Since the outbreak of Russia’s warfare connected Ukraine, the traditionally pro-Western state has moved person to Russia.

This year, relations with Western countries person besides soured nether the Georgian Dream party, which has been successful powerfulness for much than a decade. It has pushed done laws against “foreign agents” and LGBTQ rights that the United States and European Union person described arsenic Russian-inspired.

Pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili, who is besides astatine likelihood with the ruling party, has filed a suit with the Constitutional Court to annul the predetermination results.

Zurabishvili has accused Russia of voting interference, a assertion Moscow has denied.

The president wrote connected X that Monday’s plenary league was “unconstitutional”, saying “massive electoral fraud has undermined its legitimacy”.

“Georgian Dream slaves are sidesplitting our constitution and making a mockery of our parliament,” she added.

Constitutional instrumentality adept Vakhushti Menabde told the AFP quality bureau that the “new parliament cannot convene until the Constitutional Court delivers its ruling connected Zurabishvili’s lawsuit.”

Last week, EU overseas argumentation main Josep Borrell said the Georgian elections “will person to beryllium investigated” and announced that Brussels was sending a ngo to Tbilisi.

Georgian Dream has denied the electoral fraud allegations.

Source

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies