The Commission, discussing the organizational issues during its first sitting, elected Givi Mikanadze, the First Deputy Chairman of the Georgian Dream faction, as the Chairman of the Commission, and David Zilfimiani, the faction-independent MP, representing the European Socialists party, as the secretary of the Commission.

The members of the Commission drafted the statute of the Commission, reflecting the scope and powers, composition and structure, rules of operation, as well as the organizational-technical support and funding issues of the Commission.

The members of the Commission also developed a report, covering the period from February 17 to May 13.

"This is a very short report, which is not focused on specific activities but is made up of explanatory context, which deals with the factors that led to the postponement of the first session”, - G. Mikanadze stated.

The three-month term of the Commission expires on May 17, therefore, the members of the Commission considered it expedient to extend the term of office of the Commission by one month.

The issue will be submitted to the Bureau first, and then to the Plenary.

The next meeting of the Commission will be held on May 18, 2021, at 1300 hrs, during which the action plan will be discussed, according to which the Commission will carry out the assigned duties.

After the meeting, the Commission members held a briefing for media representatives.

As G. Mikanadze elucidated, the October 31, 2020 Parliamentary Elections were recognized by the international community as competitive and compliant with the fundamental freedoms.

"Despite this fact, the opposition, most of which were parties that overcame the election threshold, said that the elections were held amid irregularities and openly boycotted X Convocation Parliament. Notwithstanding numerous calls from the Georgian Dream, the leadership of the opposition parties has so far failed to provide any evidence to substantiate their allegations. It is noteworthy that more than eleven thousand precinct commission members of the opposition parties signed the protocols used by the district and central election commissions to count the results and summarize the final outcome. The ruling team suggested recounting the polls, exporting the records and discussing them jointly, but neither of them cooperated on this proposal. After the elections, a greater part of the opposition based their arguments on the results of the ISFED parallel counting. The mistake, which was appealed to by the monitoring organization and the opposition, for a month and a half created a false impression that certain manipulations by the Government had taken place. Based on the communication initiated by the Georgian Dream and the tangible counter evidence presented, ISFED was forced to recalculate the results of the parallel count through an internal audit and admit that the information about the errors was not true. At the same time, the ruling team offered the opposition to set up a temporary fact-finding commission in the format of the parliament, which would make it possible to present and study all the indications”, - G. Mikanadze stated.

According to him, despite a number of invitations by the Georgian Dream, the opposition refused to cooperate with the Commission or present any evidence.

"Nevertheless, in February 2021, the ruling team initiated and set up a temporary commission, in which only the 'European Socialists' have so far expressed their willingness to engage and work. Given the ongoing facilitation process with the involvement of the Ambassadors of the United States and the European Union, and later the mediation process initiated by the President of the Council of Europe, it was decided on the advice of international partners to wait for the negotiations to conclude”, - G. Mikanadze remarked.

According to the Chairman of the Temporary Commission, the mandate of the Commission established for a period of three months extends to the pre-election, election day and the post-election period.

"At this stage, the Commission is composed of four members - two from the ruling party and two MPs from the European Socialists. Given that the mandate of the Commission expires on May 17 and that a large part of the opposition is now represented in the Parliament, we consider it important to extend the mandate of the Commission and work with the opposition”, - G. Mikanadze added.

The Chairman of the Temporary Commission called on the MPs representing the opposition parties to express their desire and join and participate in the work of the Commission by May 17.

"I also call on all interested parties and organizations to submit any evidence of election irregularities to the specially registered e-mail address at [email protected]”, - G. Mikanadze stated.

According to the Secretary of the Temporary Commission, D. Zilfimian, the "European Socialists" have expressed a desire and commitment to working in the Commission from the very beginning.

"Of course, I will be happy if other colleagues from the opposition join the work of this Commission. The methodology of the inquiry should provide the result and not the subjective opinions. This is my belief and we will work in this direction”, - D. Zilfimiani stated.

Aluda Ghudushauri, a member of the Commission from the Georgian Dream faction, estimated the Commission as an important platform - "Today is a truly historic day, because at no time in the history of Georgia has any of the victorious ruling political forces created such a high-capacity platform as the Temporary Commission. First of all, on the one hand, it is the decision of the "Georgian Dream" as a highly responsible political force, and on the other hand, it is the manifestation, action and bold decision of the strong political force. We, the "Georgian Dream", since 2012, when we defeated and the Georgian people rejected the political force that was practically driving our society and our country into the abyss, we started to act progressively, strengthen democracy and focus on human rights. If the opposition really has any documentary evidence, as well as any claim that they say was legally sound, they can come forward, submit such a document, such a substantiated claim and the Commission will consider all issues as much as possible and put an end to the speculations about the elections once and for all”.

According to Fridon Injia, the member of the Temporary Commission, representing the “European Socialists”, an important stage of the parliamentary life has begun today - "The speculation that has been going on for months must be put to an end. If there was evidence three or four months ago, that evidence must still be evidence today. Therefore, if anyone holds any such evidence, we are ready to scrupulously review all the documents they may present”.