MP Petre Mamradze said on November 12 he was quitting the parliamentary majority, citing that his opinion on various issues differed from the one of the ruling party.

“I have decided to be an independent lawmaker. You know that I have voiced position on several occasions, which differed from the one of the team [referring the parliamentary majority],” MP Mamradze told the Rustavi 2 TV.

In one of the remarks made in the Tbilisi-based Kavkasia TV’s talk show last month, MP Mamradze said that in August it was already impossible to avert war and the Georgian authorities could not have done anything about it, because the policies carried out by the Georgian authorities in recent years was in itself “a mistake” led to the situation which eventually grew into the August events. These remarks were in stark contrast from the official line adhered by the ruling party.

Petre Mamradze, who has been a long-time head of the government’s administration before he was replaced by Kakha Bendukidze in January, 2008, became a lawmaker after he was included in the ruling party’s list of candidates ahead of the May 21 elections with the recommendation Nino Burjanadze, who at that time was the Parliamentary Chairperson.

Giorgi Gabashvili, a lawmaker from the ruling party, criticized MP Mamradze’s decision to quit the parliamentary majority by saying: “If Mr. Mamradze had any political problems with the team [ruling party], he should have said about it before running for MP on the ruling party’s ticket.”