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Constitutional majority in the parliament

By Messenger Staff
Wednesday, October 24
After October 1 parliamentary elections, it appeared as though that the new Georgian parliament would have only two political forces represented. The Georgian Dream coalition has 85 mandates, whereas the national movement has 65. However, it also means that the Georgian Dream does not exercise a constitutional majority. Therefore, it cannot adopt certain decisions that will be implemented through the amendment of the constitution. It needs 100 votes. What is the solution?

It is interesting that at the ceremony of the opening of the new parliament, the chairman of the parliament received 88 supportive votes and some of the MPs received 92. That means that a minimum of three extra votes were received by the Georgian Dream coalition. Since the voting results are confidential, it is difficult to identify those who voted for the ruling power from the defeated side. But the fact is here. Some leaders of the Georgian Dream think that gathering the extra 15 votes will not be too difficult. Others challenge this. Now, after the first days of the parliament, it shows that five MPs from the majoritarian directly elected lists announced their wish not to join the UNM faction and if they get one more member they will establish yet another faction. These MPs say that they are not represented in any of the parties and prefer to preserve the status of independent member. So the tendency of abandoning the losing party is here, but it does not necessarily mean that extra MPs will immediately join the Georgian Dream coalition.

So, opinions differ, but one thing is clear: if the Georgian Dream does not gain a constitutional majority in a short period of time it will face many technical problems.