Why did Ivanishvili choose Margvelashvili?

Georgry Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The fourth president of Georgia may be a social “twin” of Saakashvili, who represents the generation which is able to pull out the country of the long-lasting whirl of national totalitarianism.

In 2006 I asked a well-known Moscow journalist who would be the third Russian president. “Who? The one who will be chosen by Him!” It doesn’t mean the choice is bad. The point is in the system. The leader of the ruling coalition Georgian Dream, Premier Ivanishvili “pointed” at the minister of education and science Georgy MArgvelashvili in the same manner. Other leaders of the coalition were eager to support Margvelashvili’s candidacy.

Even though, previously other candidates were considered. For example, Ivanishvili highly favored the former football player of Milan, the minister of energy Kakha Kaladze.

The head of the sociological service Gorbi, Merab Pachulia, firmly told me that Margvelashvili would surely win the October elections. Neither the former speaker of the parliament Nino Burdzhanadze nor “Laborite” Shalva Natelashvili nor the candidate from Saakashvili’s party David Bakradze can compete with him.

Saakashvili and his team are becoming history. They did a lot for the country, but they also made many mistakes. People don’t like losers either in Georgia or in Russia. They lost not only in August 2008, but also last October when they couldn’t explain the footage of torture and rape in the Gldan prison.

Today the premier needs a loyal president very much. After the next presidential elections, Georgia will transform from a super-presidential into a super-premier republic with a slight shade of parliamentary governance. The problem is that the lead of the state is chosen by the people, rather than the parliament, like in the majority of parliamentary republics of the European type. If the president is a person who is disloyal to premier, he or she will soon turn into a headache for the government. “For instance, many laws should be signed both by the president and the premier; while the right on countersign can lead to conflicts,” one of the leaders of Georgian Dream, Levan Berdzenishvili, told me. However, the problem is not in the president’s signature, but in his influence.

44-year old Margvelashvili seems to be attractive from this point of view – he is not a politician at all; he is an expert, a representative of “the advanced part of population”. He is well-educated. He studied in Prague, used to work as a tourist guide; since 2000 he headed Georgian Institute of Public Affairs – one of the most prestigious universities of Georgia. After the parliamentary elections, Ivanishvili appointed him the minister of education and science. So, his state service began with the position of a minister.

Premier usually said that Margvelashvili was the best minister in his Cabinet, but social polls gave him the last place among ten ministers. The presidential candidate didn’t show himself as a consistent politician with a clear program. For example, he had a heavy conflict with the founder of the Free University, businessman Kakha Bendukidze and made him accept “socialist rules” on impossibility of exclusion of a student from university for non-payment for education. On the other hand, Margvelashvili almost vetoed the new Labor Code which reduced an employer’s rights toward an employee. “Only Rosa Luxemburg could dream about the code,” he said.

However, the main reason for choosing Margvelashvili was a desire to deprive Saakashvili’s team of the strong argument about “returning a social category in power, which pale into insignificance after the Rose Revolution.” Margvelashvili is Saakashvili’s age mate. He came from the same environment of “elite young people” of post-Brezhnev era, like the current president. Probably Margvelashvili will better express ideas of young people of the early 1980s, who dreamt not about national totalitarianism instead, but personal freedom and peace.