On October 4, Transparency International Georgia presented the assessment of the performance of the Parliament’s 8th convocation as part of its parliamentary monitoring program.

According to our assessment, the 8th convocation of the Parliament was more pluralistic than the previous convocation, which was reflected by a significant amount of oppositional parties. There were a lot of discussions on thematic issues during plenary sessions. The level of transparency and openness of the Parliament has considerably been improved, however there are still some steps to be taken in this regard. Interested stakeholders, including members of the society, had the opportunity to engage in parliamentary discussions and obtain information related to parliamentary processes.

Nevertheless, there were a number of challenges in the work of the parliament. The parliament did not effectively conduct parliamentary oversight over the executive. There were a number of drawbacks during the law-making process: there were still a number of cases when draft laws were approved through the accelerated procedure, as well as systematic delaying of entry into force of laws.

During the 8th convocation of the Parliament, there were a number of violation of ethical norms by the members of Parliament. The MPs did not duly fulfill their responsibilities, which is reflected by the number of absentees from plenary sessions, as well as the lack of any disciplinary sanctions in this regard.

231 plenary sessions were held during the 8th convocation of the Parliament. Amongst them, 62 extraordinary sessions. Due to lack of a quorum, 10 plenary sessions were not held (2 of them extraordinary).

Draft laws approved

1. The 8th convocation of the Parliament approved 1505 laws. From these:

• 862 were initiated by the government
• 440 were initiated by the MPs
• 1 was initiated by the President of Georgia
• 177 were initiated by Parliamentary Committees 
• 13 were initiated by the Parliamentary Factions 
• 7 were initiated by the High Council of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara 
• 1 was initiated by the High Council of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia 

2. The draft laws discussed by the Parliament:

• The progressive laws and amendments were: Law on 
• Progressive draft laws and amedments: The Law of Georgia On the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, Code of Juvenile Justice, Prohibition of marriage for minors 
• Positive laws and legislative amendments, which require more work: Civil Service Reform, Code of Local Self-Governments, Labour Law, etc.
• Negative legislative amendments: Criminalization of incitement of hatred, elimination of oversight function of the National Bank, amendments to the law on the Constitutional Court, etc
• Reforms that have significant flaws: Reform of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Reform of the Prosecutor’s Office, Reform of the Courts, etc
• Progressive legislative amendments, that were not approved by the Parliament: Elimination of the Majoritarian electoral system, amendments to the law on secret surveillance, etc.

3. The Presidential veto was used on 17 legislative packages during the 8th convocation of the Parliament:

• From October 1, 2012 till October 27, 2013, the President used the veto 20 times (on 13 legislative packages) prior to the presidential elections

From 27 October, 2013 till July 24, 2016, the President used the veto 20 times (on 4 legislative packages) after the presidential elections

4. The report also includes the assessment of the most important decisions made by the Constitutional Court on the laws approved by the Parliament, which relate to the striking down of laws and abolishing of norms approved by the 8th convocation of the Parliament. For example, the elimination of the norm related to secret surveillance, elimination of the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land to foreigners, elimination of norm that strips the National Bank of its oversight function, etc

Information on the activities of each individual Member of the Parliament 
The following MPs can be noted for their activities during the 8th convocation of the Parliament: 

• Most initiated draft laws – Koba Davitashvili (68 draft laws) 
• Author of most approved draft laws – Gia Jorjoliani (53 laws) 
• Most speeches at plenary sessions – Chiora Taktakishvili (478) 
• Most justified absences from plenary sessions – Koba Nakopia (172) 
• Most unjustified absences from plenary sessions – Koba Davitashvili  (39) 
• Most justified absences from committee meetings – Levan Bejashvili (226) 
• Most unjustified absences from committee meetings – Nugzar Tsiklauri (166) 

2. Passive MPs

• 72 MPs have not used the right of legislative initiative during the 8th convocation of the Parliament
• The right to speech was not used by 18 MPs: From the majority - Goderzi Bukia, Aleksandre Tamazashvili, Gogi Liparteliani, Ali Mamedovi, Enzel Mkoiani, Ramaz Nikolaishvili, Giorgi Peikrishvili, Tamza Kacheishvili, Revaz Shavlokhashvili, Shota Khabareli, Rostom Khalvashi, Tengiz Khubuluri, and from the minority – Zaza Kedelashvili, Koba Nakofia, Levan Kardava, Nikoloz Kifshidze. 
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Absences

• During the reporting period, there were 5913 justified absences of the plenary sessions. From this 5913, 855 were due to work trips, 417 due to illness, 541 due to political reasons, and 4100 for family reasons. 
• The number of unjustified absences of plenary sessions is 983
• The number of justified absences of committee meetings is 4700 
• The number of unjustified absences of committee meetings is 4436 

The report was prepared with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)