Coalition for Change’s Melia: Letter to EU FMs aims to resolve election deadlock

“We do not have an opposition in the classical sense, this is a group of malicious people against Georgia,” Gia Volski, First Vice-Speaker of Parliament, stated on Friday. Volski believes individuals demanding the abolition of visa liberalisation for Georgia intend “to incite public anger, potential violence leading to bloodshed.” “This is one of the numerous perilous steps that they are regularly and relentlessly employing against the country,” Volski stated.

“Several hundred or thousands of people might gather during the first parliamentary session, ready to unleash various provocative outcries. The scenario we have seen before,” Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Executive Secretary of Georgian Dream, stated. However, he emphasized that despite these potential disruptions, the parliamentary session will proceed, and the country will continue its development.“What a ‘Natsi’ (a representative of the United National Movement), if not calling their own name to others amid the first session. It will unfold just as it always has; they will not hold back in their shouts during that first meeting. This is a familiar story—we’ve seen this movie many times. It has become so trivial that we may not even need to react. Yes, several hundred or even a thousand people may gather, but the country is progressing; we are moving forward. We are stronger now than we were in 2020 and enjoy greater freedom in our national and independent actions. This is evident today. That is why there is significantly less fervour this time; the level of unrest is incomparably lower than in 2020. Back then, 2% of the votes were rigged, according to their claims. Today, if we ask them, it’s more than 300,000 votes. We must navigate this frivolous narrative carefully; while we may not appreciate irony, we cannot discuss these issues without acknowledging it. What about 300,000 votes? There will be protests coinciding with the first session, but that session will be held, and the country will continue to develop,” Mdinaradze stated.

Grigol Liluashvili, Head of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSG) paid tribute to the memory of the Special Task Force officer Ivane Golashvili and extended condolence to his family members. Ivane Golashvili was killed during the counter-terrorist special raid conducted against Akhmed Chataev and his group at Monk Gabriel Salosi Street in Tbilisi on November 21-22, 2017. Today, 7 years passed since the heroic death of Special Task Force officer Ivane Golashvili. He was awarded the Order of Courage after his death.

“They will continue to deceive the people because it will be very difficult for Gakharia and other opposition parties to say that they intend to enter the parliament,” said Iago Khvichia, the leader of the Girchi party. According to Iago Khvichia, opposition parties cheated with “cheap propaganda.” “You remember their pre-election campaigning saying if we lose Russia will come and if votes lost, Putin will sit in the parliament. Now they will have to sit in the parliament of Putin and they intend to do so but they have to say something to people since it is obvious that they deceived them by this cheap propaganda. I cannot say that people did not deserve this because if you are deceived by cheap propaganda, you deserve it. People are deceived because they want to be in the parliament and everybody waits for what will happen, and how this process will pass. By next year, everyone will be in the parliament and people will stay deceived,” he said.  

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said that ambassadors are not invited to the first sitting of the 11th convocation parliament. “I sent out invitations two days ago but I did not invite the ambassadors. Members of the government and representatives of constitutional bodies will be attending. The ambassadors are not invited because it is an internal issue and we aim to minimize foreign influence. The involvement of ambassadors or other countries in the process is not necessary. Georgians should acknowledge that this is the parliament of Georgia and the newly-elected MPs, government and constitutional bodies will be in attendance,” he explained. The 11th Convocation Parliament of Georgia will hold its first sitting on November 25.