Several thousand demonstrators, mobilised by Georgia’s political opposition, gathered in Tbilisi on November 25 to protest the 11th Convocation of the Georgian parliament, which at noon commenced its inaugural session with only MPs from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party in attendance.

The circumstances surrounding the inauguration were far from ordinary. Georgia’s pro-Western opposition forces, president and much of civil society have denounced the October 26 parliamentary elections, in which GD won 54% of the vote, giving it 89 out of 150 seats, as fraudulent, and refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the new parliament. They demand GD’s victory be overturned and a new round of elections be held under international supervision. 

All four of the opposition coalitions have renounced their MP mandates and announced they would boycott parliament, meaning none of the 61 opposition members who won seats in the October vote attended the inaugural session on the November 25, instead remaining outside the legislative building amongst their supporters, who had gathered on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue.

“The elections held to form the current parliament were held by trampling on the constitution and against the will of the people,” Elene Khoshtaria, leader of the Coalition for Change opposition group, said in an interview outside parliament. 

Georgia’s Western-leaning President Salome Zourabichvili has declared the newly elected parliament to be in breach of the Georgian constitution, citing several violations. Firstly, she argued that widespread irregularities during the October elections have undermined the legitimacy of the new parliament. Secondly, Zourabichvili highlighted that under Article 38 of the constitution only the president is permitted to officially convene the first session of a new parliament, which she did not. And lastly, Zourabichvili noted that the appeals she and 30 opposition MPs recently filed to the Constitutional Court, legally challenging the election result, are still pending, and, as per Article 86 of the Georgian Parliament Rules of Procedure, the inauguration of the new parliament should not have taken place prior to a decision by the court.

Ripped up the constitution

“Today, the Georgian parliament no longer exists … one party has ripped up the constitution,” the president wrote on X following the close of the inaugural parliament session on November 25. 

“Black Monday in Georgia: police and special forces guarding the doors behind which GD slaves are killing our constitution and making a mockery of our parliament,” the president added. 

“The parliament’s recognition of authority today is illegal. Until the Constitutional Court rules on the president’s and opposition’s lawsuits, the parliament must wait. Any decisions, including laws or the budget, will be illegal,” stated Georgian constitutional lawyer Vakhushti Menabde, as reported by local news platform Publika, echoing the president’s sentiment. 

Transparency International also highlighted how GD’s intention to launch the new parliament was a “straightforward and severe violation” of Georgia’s constitution.

“Georgia is in constitutional crisis,” wrote the chair of the Estonian Foreign Affairs Committee, in response to the president’s tweet.

In a video posted to X, Anna Dolidze, one of the leaders of the Strong Georgia opposition coalition, optimistically described the opposition’s boycott of the inaugural session as the “first victory of the pro-European movement, as there was not a single opposition member in the parliament”. 

Clutching at straws

However, to call the events of November 25 a victory may be clutching at straws.

Georgia’s opposition forces have had trouble drawing large crowds since the October vote for a constellation of reasons – the absence of a single, charismatic leader and no clear plan of action to name the most glaring. Patchy turnout, low crowd morale and little success have entrenched a sense of disillusionment and despair among many in Tbilisi, and, despite the significance of the inaugural parliament session, only a relatively small number answered the call to arms and took to the streets on November 25.

A handful of protesters spent the night of the 24th camped out on Rustaveli Avenue in front of the parliament building and were joined the following morning by a thousand or so more. The atmosphere on the 25th was one of exhaustion and hopelessness, with the numbers only a tiny proportion of the hordes who stormed the streets earlier in the year in protest of GD’s controversial “foreign agent” law.

Extensive police cordons made up of both regular officers and special forces blocked the roads either side of the parliament building, blocking protesters’ access to the back and side entrances, where the opposition had planned to attempt to disrupt MPs entering the building for the midday session. The front gates of the building were locked and reinforced, and metal barricades set up in front of them. Down the road in Tbilisi’s iconic Liberty Square, riot police and vehicles, equipped with newly purchased Ministry of Internal Affairs water cannons, were mobilised and ready to intervene. 

Protesters did not attempt to initiate clashes with the police, but booed, waved banners, blew horns and whistles and chanted “Russians! Russians!”, alluding to the widely alleged parallels between the GD party’s recent style of rule and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s autocratic government. 

The opposition’s announcement “Russian slaves, please liberate Georgia, or measures will be taken against you” boomed out through elevated loudspeakers at the same time as the GD MPs were arriving at parliament under heavy police protection. The message was accompanied by a recurring siren noise replicating the warning sound of riot police dispersal. 

During the two-hour session, MPs unilaterally voted to validate the mandates of all 150 MPs, including all elected opposition members in their absence. The 88 ruling party MPs present unanimously re-elected Shalva Papuashvili as speaker, formed a new cabinet under the incumbent Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, and established the Georgian Dream faction, which would again by led by Mamuka Mdinaradze, who stated that “Bidzina Ivanishvili [GD founder and honorary chairman] has given us the confidence to proudly serve our homeland”.

Ivanishvili, who topped the party’s electoral list, made a rare appearance at the inauguration to swear himself in as an MP, although he has announced he intends to forgo his mandate, suggesting he has no intention of actually taking a seat in the legislative body.

The first session of the new parliament was also notable for the absence of foreign diplomats and representatives from Western partner organisations – a tradition upheld since Georgia’s independence. “To minimise any undue foreign influence, the participation of ambassadors or other foreign diplomats in this process is unnecessary,” Papuashvili commented in the days before the inaugural session. 

“The Dream will be alone in the Assembly Hall, marking the isolationism brought by stolen elections,” stated opposition leader Anna Dolidze is response to the ruling party’s decision to ban foreign guests.

Outside the barricades

Outside in the rain, demonstrators watched the livestream of the parliament session on a large screen, booing and shouting at the GD officials. The spectacle sparked a sudden wave of anger; people ran up the steps to the main parliament entrance, banging on the metal barricades with sticks, rocks and their fists. 

“I’m excited, we are doing something!” a young protester told bne IntelliNews, as she hurried forward to the barrier to join in the chorus. 

Some demonstrators threw eggs dipped in black dye over the barriers, aiming for the CCTV cameras, and leaving black splatters on the columns of the legislative building. Several small explosives were lobbed into the parliament’s central courtyard and went off with booms. At one point, two young men managed to unscrew a bolt from the bottom fastenings of the metal wall, but it soon became clear it would not be possible to undo the rest without specialised equipment. For over two hours protesters beat the barricade but struggled to do much more than scratch the surface of the metal.    

By about 5:30 in the evening, only a few hundred soaked demonstrators remained in front of the parliament. It is unclear what, if anything, the opposition can now do, and the opposition’s telegram channel Demand New Elections, has been silent for several days.

“Georgia is tired, confused, angry and deeply humiliated,” Marika Mikiashvili, a member of the Coalition for Change, wrote on X. 

“Not entering the parliament and continuing protests, no matter how small, is crucial,” she insisted in a later post.