The leader of the Girchi party Zurab Japaridze and three deputies of the United National Movement, Nona Mamulashvili, Anna Tsitlidze and Levan Varshalomidze, announced that they had decided to leave the Georgian parliament. Saakashvili called on all opposition MPs to leave the Georgian parliament.
In the second round of elections for the mayor of Tbilisi, according to the Georgian Central Election Commission, the candidate from the ruling Georgian Dream party and current mayor, Kakha Kaladze, won. During a protest near parliament, Nika Melia called the election results rigged and announced the start of a campaign of rallies throughout the country demanding the government's resignation and early elections. Parliamentary deputy, leader of the Lelo for Georgia party Mamuka Khazaradze joined the protest action. He announced that he was giving up his deputy mandate and said that he would also continue to fight in the streets.
On October 30, the second round of voting in elections to local self-government bodies was held in 20 Georgian cities. The election commission recognised the elections as valid, calculating that the "Georgian Dream" won in 19 cities and that the “United National Movement” candidate won Tsalenjikha.
Saakashvili's message was read by his lawyer Nika Gvaramia on November 1 after visiting the former president in prison.
“We must understand that the parliament has already lost the function of a government platform. No decision can be made and will not be made there. Conversations with the bandits about reforms and changes for the good of the country are only delaying the time for the charge of protest to go out and for our country to be given up. Therefore, I would advise all my comrades-in-arms and simply patriots of the country and decent people in parliament to follow the example of Mr. Khazaradze, leave the parliament and leave "Dream" alone with themselves," Mikheil Saakashvili's lawyer said.
Representative of the United National Movement faction Anna Tsitlidze resigned from the mandate of a deputy of the Georgian parliament on November 1.
Tsitlidze said that she saw no point in staying in parliament and could continue the struggle even without a deputy mandate. “I don’t know who will make which decision. I didn’t have communication with the party, you know that I’m in Zugdidi. I see no point in sitting in parliament. I will be able to continue the struggle even without a deputy's mandate. "The Georgian Dream" should remain with itself. We will talk about the rest at the rallies," Anna Tsitlidze said.
Let us remind you that the first round of the municipal elections in Georgia took place on October 2. In 20 municipalities, candidates did not receive the required number of votes, so the electoral commission decided to hold a second round of elections. Before the first round, at the end of September, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili returned to the country. He was arrested because he was sentenced in absentia in two criminal cases. On October 20, Saakashvili was also accused of illegally crossing the Georgian border. Immediately after his arrest, he went on a hunger strike in the Rustavi prison.
