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Activities of Majoritarian MPs Negatively Evaluated in Imereti Region

December 24, 2013
 
Shorena Kakabadze, Imereti

Several organizations got interested in the activities of the majoritarian MPs during past one and half year after the 2012 Parliamentary Elections. Conducted surveys did not show good results – despite preliminary promises, majoritarian MPs, their bureaus do not work properly and request MPs to be more attentive towards electorate.

Transparency International – Georgia is one of those organizations, who studied activities of the majoritarian MPs and their bureaus. On 30 September 2013, the TI Georgia sent letters to MPs from Kutaisi, Sachkhere, Tchiatura, Kharagauli, Zestaponi, Terjola, Tkhibuli, Baghdati, Vani, Samtredia, Khoni, and Tskaltubo requesting information about the meetings with local residents held by the MPs or their offices as well as about draft amendments initiated by these MPs to answer the needs singled out as a result of those meetings.

“In spite of the problems being identified, the bureaus of the majoritatrian MPs cannot take specific actions due to the lack of financial resources. In many cases, the solutions to the problems reported by the citizens is sought through redirecting them to other state agencies (mostly local self-government) or problems are resolved through the deputies’ personal contacts. The study also shows that the majoritarian MPs from Imereti do not propose relevant legislative amendments to solve the identified problems. As to the proposed changes, they are initiated by a group of lawmakers and do not reflect the individual work of MPs,” the report of the TI Georgia reads. 

Transparency International Georgia welcomes the fact of the majoritarian MPs meeting voters and inquiring about their needs. Nevertheless, the majoritarian MP's responsibilities should not be limited to only meetings with the local residents and getting feedback from them. Unfortunately, the recent surveys have shown that the initiatives submitted to relevant departments by the majoritarian MPs are not proportionate to the challenges that a given region is facing,” the report reads. TI Georgia believes that MPs will not be able to carry out their functions to the full and resolve the problems weighing on the electorate by just conducting meetings that are not followed by adequate initiatives and actions.

Study conducted by the nongovernmental organization CIDA also indicates at insufficient communication between the MPs and voters. The study was conducted by 22 nongovernmental organizations of the Civil Society Regional Network; Kutaisi branch of the GYLA is also member of the network.

“Study of the activities of majoritarian MPs and their bureaus became urgent after the analysis of the problems in different regions showed that MPs do not or insufficiently participate in the problem resolution process in the districts, where people voted for them,” said Zviad Devdaryani, head of CIDA.

“Voters elect who should represent them in the parliament. Naturally, they hope that everyday problems shall be resolved with the support of the MPs.  Elected MPs and their bureaus shall be aware of their responsibilities in order to properly implement the task. Unfortunately, the study showed that they often do not know their duties. Problems were observed in communication too. However, some progress was observed in comparison to the past period. Namely, majoritarian MPs do not sit in their offices and allow us to evaluate their activities; moreover, they even offer cooperation to us,” said Nodar Jikia, program director at the GYLA’s Kutaisi office told humanrights.ge. He spoke about the memorandum signed with the Kutaisi majoritarian MP’s bureau and hopes the cooperation will be improved in this direction. MPs from Kutaisi and other districts will become more active and become more accountable to the electorate. Their accountability is regulated by the Parliament resolution. 

State budget spends 5 000 lari on the maintenance of each MP bureau per month. 

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