Parliament prematurely terminated the powers of the deputies of the Gakharia party and deprived it of funding

Parliament passed a resolution on the early termination of the powers of 12 deputies from the For Georgia party of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia.

In particular, Teona Akubardia, Ana Buchukuri, Giorgi Gakharia, Levan Gogichaishvili, Zaza Tavadze, Beka Liluaashvili, Natia Mezvrishvili, Berdia Sichinava, Kakhaber Kemoklidze, Roin Kochorashvili, Dmitry Tskitishvili, and Zviad Dzidziguri.

The reason for the termination of their parliamentary powers was their absence from meetings without a valid reason. As specified by Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili, the MPs did not participate in any of the 26 meetings of the spring session.

Also, due to a violation of the regulations, For Georgia lost state funding for six months. According to Papuashvili, the party received 800,000 lari from the budget after the 11th parliament began work in November, “without spending a single day” in the legislative body.

According to the law, the parliament must now approve the parliamentary mandates of the next 12 candidates from the Gakharia for Georgia party list.

After the 2024 parliamentary elections, Gakharia's party refused to participate in legislative work, declaring that it did not recognize the results of the vote. However, unlike other opposition forces, the deputies of “For Georgia” did not officially renounce their mandates and did not withdraw the party list.

The termination of powers took place against the backdrop of accusations against Gakharia, who broke away from the ruling Georgian Dream and joined the opposition. He became a defendant in a criminal case for attempted sabotage due to the installation of a police checkpoint in the village of Chochana near the occupation line in 2019. This led to tensions between Tbilisi and the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali. At the time, Gakharia was serving as Minister of Internal Affairs.

Reproduced from https://www.newsgeorgia.ge/