GD MP Says Majority of His Teammates Have No Function
By Tea Mariamidze
Friday, April 13
Ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party MP, Shota Shalelashvili believes that at least 80 parliamentarians of his party, which has 116 seats in a 150-member parliament, have no function.
He said that there are 10 parliamentary delegations where only 10-15 members of the GD are represented.
Shalelashvili made the statement while commenting on the recent disagreement in the Georgian Dream, which started after GD MP Gedevan Popkhadze stated he was leaving party on April 4, 2018 because several majority MPs supported the candidate of the minority, Ninia Kakabadze, on the post of the Georgian Public Broadcaster board of trustees.
Shota Shalelashvili says the disagreement can be defused by the Parliament Speaker, Irakli Kobakhidze, who slammed Popkhadze for his decision.
"This is not a government crisis, a parliamentary mini crisis and everything is in the hands of Irakli Kobakhidze," said Shalelashvili.
GD member, Zakaria Kutsnashvili says the signs of confrontation are obvious and the party needs to be “cured” on time to avoid further problems.
Meanwhile, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality Ketevan Tsikhelashvili says there is no confrontation in the ruling party.
“I think there is no political crisis and the MPs will soon settle these relations. I do not think that there is a reason for any concern in this regard," said Tsikhelashvili.
According to her, it is not serious to speak about alleged resignation of the Chairperson of the Parliament, voiced by some GD members earlier.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Kobakhidze does not exclude that the situation will improve in the ruling team, adding this will be based on some conditions.
“There are several members of the team who have made mistakes but there are more than 100 MPs who evaluate the events correctly. There are some mistakes, but there is a possibility to sort out relationships with these people. Naturally, there will be appropriate preconditions. I call on everyone to keep calm,” he stated on April 12.
