The Moscow-friendly Georgian Dream party, fresh off a contested victory in parliamentary elections last month that ignited calls for fresh polls and pro-EU demonstrations in Tbilisi, is preparing to hold its first parliamentary session on November 25.
In comments to RFE/RL, Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said that foreign diplomats would not be invited to attend the opening session, saying it “should only be celebrated by the Georgian people."
EU and other Western officials have expressed serious doubts about the October 26 elections in which Georgian Dream officially won 53.9 percent of the vote.
Opposition leaders this week called on foreign diplomats not to legitimize the new parliament by attending the first session of parliament.
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Georgian Opposition Demands Election Rerun Before Parliament Meets
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has refused to recognize the result validated by the country’s Central Election Committee (CEC), and protests demanding new elections continue to be held in the country’s capital.
Protesters have alleged that there was widespread fraud during the campaign and vote, and that Russia heavily influenced the outcome favoring Georgian Dream, which has been in power since 2012.
SEE ALSO: Toomas Hendrik Ilves: 'There Has To Be A Price' For Alleged Election Rigging In GeorgiaIn recent days, Georgian police have shut down the demonstrations, including through the use of violence on November 19.
Video footage by RFE/RL correspondents in Tbilisi showed police dragging people to the ground, including women, and beating them before taking them away.
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Police Violently Disperse Tbilisi Protests Over Disputed Elections
The same day, Zurabishvili filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court "requesting annulment of the election results as unconstitutional.”
The first item on the agenda for the opening session, which will be attended by the head of the CEC, will be recognizing the authority of all 150 parliament members.
SEE ALSO: Edward Lucas: 'Georgia Is Heading In The Direction Of Belarus'Georgia has been a candidate for EU membership since last year, but a "foreign influence" law and anti-LGBT measures enacted under Georgian Dream’s leadership have stalled that effort.
The United States in July announced that it would pause more than $95 million in assistance to the Georgian government, warning it that it was backsliding on democracy.