A majoritarian MP from Adjara’s Keda single-mandate constituency, Iasha Shervashidze, has quit the United National Movement’s (UNM) parliamentary minority group.

Shervashidze, who held the same majoritarian MP seat from Keda as UNM member in the previous Parliament, did not give reasons behind his decision.

He became ninth MP to quit UNM after the new Parliament was elected in October.

Like Shervashidze, other eight lawmakers, who quit UNM, are also majoritarian MPs. One of them joined Georgian Dream (GD) parliamentary majority and six of them formed a separate faction, which is not a member of either parliamentary majority or minority groups, but inclines towards cooperating with GD. 

Georgia’s past parliamentary experience shows that majoritarian MPs, especially those who are not actively engaged in political life and are not high-profile political figures, are more inclined towards cooperating with a governing party.

UNM, which originally endorsed both through party-list and majoritarian system total of 65 lawmakers in the new Parliament, now has 56 MPs.

In case of attracting support of those lawmakers who have quit UNM, which is not unlikely, Georgian Dream will override potential presidential veto, but will still fall 9 votes short of 100 required for amending constitution.