On the eve of the parliamentary elections in Georgia, Der Spiegel
published an article titled "Election in Georgia: A Battle between Dictators
and Dreamers".
"Parliamentary elections in the small Caucasus nation of Georgia will
be held on Monday. President Saakashvili is waging a desperate effort
against rivals who accuse him of behaving like a dictator. But he says
his billionaire main opponent is nothing but "a straw man for Putin," the article begins.
The importance of the upcoming parliamentary elections is explained by
the fact that a constitutional amendment that strengthens the
position of the prime minister while reducing the powers of the
president will go into effect in October 2013, at the end of
Saakashvili's second and final term. "Despite all the assurances that
he doesn't, if Saakashvili wants to transfer to becoming prime
minister -- just like Vladimir Putin did in Russia in 2008 -- he will
need a majority in parliament."
The author of the article connects the start of the decline of
Saakashvili's populartity with the loss of the 5-day war against
Russia in August 2008. "Even more devastating for Saakashvili is the
fact that his claim that the Russians started the war by attacking
Georgia is now considered to have been refuted. In response to the question of
whether Georgia's use of violence in South Ossetia was justified under
international law, the European Union's 2009 final report on the war
concluded: "It was not."
According to Der Spiegel, Former Georgian President Eduard Shevarnadze
believes that Saakashvili is bringing Georgia to the brink of
dictatorship.
However, Saakashvili is very concerned about Georgia's image in the West.
"That's because," Glucksmann says, "neither the Georgian police nor
the army will protect us from Russia's interest in instability in this
country. Only Europe's participation can protect us," Der Spiegel
quotes Raphael Glucksmann, an advisor to the Georgian President.
