No quorum at the Parliament’s last session

On Wednesday, the Parliament of Georgia failed to hold the last plenary session due to the lack of quorum, as only 30 lawmakers appeared out of the 150-seat legislative body.

The necessary number of Members of Parliament (MPs) for a quorum was 76.

Parliament Chair David Usupashvili has apologized to the Georgian people for the disruption, as the legislative body should have discussed and voted some important topics, among them the voting for three nominees for the Supreme Court Judge.

“I hope we will elect a Parliament on October 8 which will honesty fulfill its responsibilities from the first day to the last one,” Usupashvili said.

The President’s Parliamentary Secretary Anna Dolidze said “Parliament has failed to discuss the election of the judges for the Supreme Court for the sixth time due to the absence of lawmakers. This indicates towards the attitude of parliamentary political forces to the court system,

Parliament’s Vice-Speaker Manana Kobakhidze said there was nothing special and surprising in today’s disruption of the session, as political parties were engaged in pre-election campaigning.

“It’s quite hard to gather MPs in the pre-election period as many of them are involved in pre-election campaigning. The regalement also says the legislative body must suspend activities one month before the elections, which is not a random note,” Kobakhidze said.

The current Georgian Parliament, which is the eighth in the history of independent Georgia, was elected through the 2012 October Parliamentary Elections.

The United National Movement opposition party has boycotted Parliament sessions since June this year, after an incident in the western Samegrelo region when opposition supporters were beaten by those of the ruling party.

The UNM said they would not have attended any sessions until the incident is properly investigated.

Lawmakers’ presence at the legislative body has always been a problem in Georgia, which is quite shameful and indicates towards a lack of responsibility from MPs.

It means some of them do not realize their duties to the people and are solely interested in having a good salary and other benefits.

There must be very strong approach to such issues. Such lawmakers must get as much salary as they deserve taking their presence into account or be somehow punished if he/she very frequently misses sessions without a genuine excuse.

It is regrettable that some parties still name such people in their party and majoritarian lists which have no experience and knowledge of how to behave within the legislative body.