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The Georgian Dream party ceased its work in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the head of the Georgian delegation said after the Strasbourg-based legislative body overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on Georgia to set a date for new parliamentary elections, RFE/RL reported.

Tea Tsulukiani announced the move on January 29, saying that conditions of the resolution, which passed 114-13, were "unacceptable, unfair, and unfounded."

The resolution calls on Georgian authorities to set a date for new parliamentary elections before April, release all political prisoners, and review controversial laws. Its demands echo those of protesters who continue to hold pro-European rallies in Tbilisi and elsewhere in the country.

Tsulukiani said the resolution’s demand for new elections “violates Georgia’s sovereignty and ignores the will of more than 1,120,000 voters who voted for Georgian Dream and is categorically unacceptable,” according to the Novosti-Gruzia.

“To accept this reservation on our part would be tantamount to betraying our electorate and, consequently, the overwhelming majority of our society,” Tsulukiani said. “Based on the above, we, members of the Georgian parliamentary delegation in Strasbourg, are ceasing our work in PACE from today.”

Georgian Dream was harshly criticized by members of the PACE during its plenary session on January 29. Among them was Latvian MP Zanda Kalniņa-Lukasevica, who said there had been a rollback of democracy in the country.