Parliamentary Committee for Procedural Issues decided at its session on January 23 that the request of six UNM lawmakers to register a new parliamentary faction under the name of the National Movement is “in line” with the parliamentary rules of procedure. The decision was later approved by the parliamentary bureau.

The following lawmakers will enter the new faction: Roman Gotsiridze, Salome Samadashvili, Tinatin Bokuchava, Nika Melia, Koba Nakopia and Azer Suleymanov. Roman Gotsiridze will chair the new faction.

According to Giorgi Kakhiani, committee chair, along with mandatory documentation, the lawmakers also submitted UNM’s January 13 protocol suspending party membership to those 16 members, who left the United National Movement on January 12. The list does not include four MPs who were registered as non-partisan candidates in UNM’s party list and MP Ramaz Nikolaishvili, who opted for maintaining the status of an independent lawmaker within the parliamentary minority.

Earlier, the group of 20 lawmakers who parted ways with UNM, renamed the party’s two factions to European Georgia and European Georgia for Better Future. The group also retained the status of the parliamentary minority.

The UNM faction will work outside of the parliamentary minority.

Parliamentary faction is a group of at least six MPs, which gives certain privileges to its members, involving a seat and right to vote in the parliament’s bureau (the body which determines the parliamentary sessions’ agenda), guaranteed seats in committees, investigative and other ad hoc commissions and parliamentary delegations, as well as allocation of more time during debates and discussions in the Parliament.