Parliament will be convened on September 3 to annul martial law, Davit Bakradze, the parliamentary chairman, said on Tuesday.

Martial law, which was imposed throughout Georgia on August 9, will be replaced with a state of emergency, but only in areas currently occupied by Russian troops – in the western Georgian region of Samegrelo and in parts of Shida Kartli region.

Initially, martial law was imposed for two weeks, but it was subsequently prolonged for another two weeks until September 8. Bakradze, however, said that the decision was made to annul martial law earlier than initially planned, because it was creating certain problems for economic activities.

Pavle Kublashvili, a lawmaker from the ruling party, said there is a slight difference between these two regimes. “If the martial law is imposed it covers entire territory of the country, while the state of emergency can be imposed in only certain parts of the country,” he said.