TBILISI, DFWatch — The current parliamentary minority, which is made up of a party that governed Georgia for the last eight years, demand to have the position as chair of parliament’s temporary investigative commission.

The minority introduced a draft law in parliament on Tuesday. This was the opposition’s request in the previous parliament, but Saakashvili’s government refused to grant them this. Now members of the same party, who are the new minority, decided to make the same request themselves.

A temporary investigative commission is to be set up in parliament, in order to study cases that are causing a great deal of interest in society, as many people suspect that former government officials were involved.

According to Georgian law, there should be information about a crime having been committed by a government body or an official in order to set up such commission; also information about corruption, which threatens the country’s security, sovereignty, territorial integrity, political and economic interests; information about incorrect spending of the state’s money, or local government spending; information, which is significantly important for a state and society.

The number of majority representatives cannot be more than half in this commission. Faction, minority, majority and six-MP groups have mandate to present candidates for chair of the commission.

The parliamentary minority wants to chair the commission and applied to the legislative assembly, arguing that only the minority should have a right to present a candidate to chair the commission.

The majority representatives do not yet comment on this issue, but when in opposition, they claimed that opposition representatives should chair such commissions, but if they agree with current initiative of the minority, then former government officials will chair investigation of cases in which they themselves are implicated.