Doesn't Georgia want to be friends with Russia?

The Georgian opposition party 'United National Movement' (UNM) asked the Central Election Commission with a demand to cancel the registration of the "pro-Russian" party - a political association 'Neutral Georgia', led by Valery Kvaratskhelia. As the UNM representative, MP Irma Nadirashvili, noted at the briefing, the opposition got interested in Kvaratskhelia's party after he offered one of the leaders of the "Centrists", Vladimir Bedukadze, to participate in the parliamentary elections as a part of his political association, Georgia Online reports.

On August 16, the Georgian Central Election Commission annulled the registration of the party "Centrists" to participate in the parliamentary elections because of the lack of an official party chairman.

A member of the ‘Expert Club of Georgia’ Vakhtang Maisaya speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted in the first place that the 'United National Movement', as well as several governmental and non-governmental organizations are behind the campaign against the pro-Russian parties. At the same time, commenting on the situation with the 'Neutral Georgia' party, he noted that a lawsuit was filed against it because it violated the Civil Act, according to which all fascist and communist symbols are banned in the country. "Including the banner of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic," the expert said.

At the same time he expressed an opinion that the campaign against pro-Russian parties is PR. "The pro-Western political forces use a variety of opportunities to improve their ranking, so they have resorted to the anti-Russian tricks. Especially since the parties of Japaridze, Vashadze, Katsitadze and Burchuladze are creating a new coalition based on common foreign policy views. They are the pro-Western political movements, therefore, they are uniting in order to protect the pro-Western political orientation of Georgia," the expert explained.

In addition, the expert told about the UNM's goals when they speak about the dismissal of Bidzina Ivanishvili and, respectively, the ruling Georgian Dream party, as well as shared his opinion on the possibility of Saakashvili's return to power. "Mikheil Saakashvili is the informal leader of the United National Movement. He is very dangerous for Georgia, because he can do everything for the sake of returning to power, including a coup attempt. The UNM understands that they have no chance to become even the second opposition party in the parliament. The party can count on only 7-8% of the vote. That is why they use all legal and illegal ways to somehow destabilize the situation in Georgia," the political scientist said.

According to him, the events of 2008 are the result of the UNM actions. "That is why Georgia didn't enter NATO. It was sort of a political boycott, as Saakashvili's regime did not meet the value criteria, which must be met by all candidate countries for the NATO membership. Only after the peaceful overthrow of Saakashvili Georgia has made a first progress in this direction," the expert reminded.