Georgian opposition consolidates

A Georgian opposition conference has been ignored by those who did not want to sit at the same table as former premier Zurab Nogaideli, who is accused of “capitulation before Russia.”

On May 30th, local elections will take place in Georgia, including Tbilisi. For the first time in Georgia’s post-Soviet history, residents of the capital will have the opportunity to elect a mayor.

This concession by the authorities may be considered the only (albeit important) result of the lengthy demonstrations which ended on July 30th with the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden to Tbilisi.

The authorities managed to calm the population at the time by
promising to organize early direct mayoral elections in Tbilisi in the spring of 2010 instead of the autumn. Observers agree that the result
of these elections will predetermine the manner and the process of the next presidential election campaign.

Although some of the influential opposition leaders (for example, Nino Burjanadze, the former speaker of parliament and Nogaideli, the former prime minister) are not taking part in the mayoral race, they are quite likely to use the election campaign and the forthcoming stormy events of May-July to renew their fight against President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Incumbent mayor Gigi Ugulava is the candidate of the governing ‘United National Movement". The opposition has so far been unable to agree on a single candidate.

Several opposition figures seem set to stand against Ugulava, among whom, for example, are the leader of "Alliance for Georgia" and ex-Georgian representative to the UN, Irakli Alasania, ex-presidential candidate and leader of the movement "Protect Georgia", Levan
Gachechiladze, and a member of the Christian Democracy movement of Tbilisi, Giorgi Chanturia.

The leader of the Labour party, Shalva Natelashvili, proposed organizing a conference at the ‘Tbilisi-Marriot’ hotel to agree on a common strategy. All the opposition attended, except for the leaders of the National Forum, ‘Alliance for Georgia’ and the Christian democrats, who said they did not want to sit at the same table with Zurab Nogaideli, who recently visited Russia for talks.

The participants of the round table meeting did not conceal that the main stimulus for them to start consultations was the infamous Imedi
“mockumentary” depicting an invasion of Georgia by Russian forces.

“A totalitarian regime has been established in Georgia,” a statement said. “President Saakashvili controls all the branches of power, including the media, which psychologically terrorizes the population and promotes war. The film by Imedi is a real danger to stability. So the opposition is addressing the world community with a request to organize a conference on the topic of the liberation of Georgia from dictatorship, and the democratization and unitification of the country.”

However, Burjanadze made everyone understand that Georgia can not rely upon the active help of the West.

‘We have to resolve our problems ourselves and not to ask for help from outside,” she said. “We have to achieve early presidential and parliamentary elections to see responsible politicians come to power.”

 Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK