The Work of Investigatory Commission without Participation of Boycotting Opposition will be Futile

Today, the Parliament of Georgia is voting on the issue of setting up a temporary investigatory commission to study the 2020 parliamentary elections in Georgia.

The investigative function of the Parliament is one of the most important, yet at the same time the most rarely employed tools by the Parliament of Georgia to exercise political control over the executive government. Given the significance of the Parliament’s investigative function, the “Democracy Index – Georgia” has repeatedly urged the Parliament of Georgia to exploit the mechanism actively and effectively.

However, due to the extraordinary and emergency situation in the Parliament of Georgia today, the work of the investigatorycommission may not yield any results.

The opposition is hardly presented in the Parliament of the democratic parliamentary republic enshrined by the Constitution. The Parliament boasts six opposition MPs instead of 60, and no opposition faction exists in the parliament so far. Added to this is the fact that opposition MPs boycotting parliamentary activities due to electoral violations will be represented neither in the Parliament nor in the investigatory commission, as the members thereof.

Thus, any investigative procedures initiated and conducted as per a decision of the parliamentary majority rather than by the parliamentary opposition without the participation of members of the boycotting opposition will never gain public trust and prove to be inefficient.