First session of newly elected parliament with opposition seats vacant. (Tabula.ge)

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s newly elected parliament opened its first session on Friday with only one party in attendance.

All opposition parties are boycotting the parliament despite many rounds of negotiations and efforts by Western diplomats to break the deadlock.

Nine parties surpassed the threshold in the October 31 elections with a total proportional list, but the ruling Georgian Dream won the election by a wide margin.

All other opposition parties that gained more than the minimum amount of votes say the election was rigged and have vowed not to assume their assigned seats.

U.S. and European diplomats have since stepped in and mediated in the crisis, but the talks ended in failure. No opposition lawmakers appeared at Friday’s session in parliament.

As the session was in progress, however, some of the opposition representatives gathered in the surrounding area and publicly denounced their mandates.

Simultaneously, opposition activists staged a protest rally during the parliamentary session.

At the first sitting, the parliament re-elected Archil Talakvadze as speaker. At the same time, the MPs say that Giorgi Gakharia will continue as prime minister.