Opposition claim victory in reform of public broadcaster’s management

The state-owned public broadcaster is having its management overhauled to include political representation, the first significant compromise to come out of negotiations between the government and the opposition since the January 5 presidential election.

“The public broadcaster is ours now!” opposition coalition leader Levan Gachechiladze declared at a thousands-strong rally on the steps of the broadcaster’s building. “The public broadcaster is in the hands of the people, and we are able to tell the people the truth through the television.”

The opposition is protesting the reelection of Mikheil Saakashvili in what they say was a rigged election.

The changes to the public broadcaster come after previously unannounced negotiations between acting president Nino Burjanadze and opposition leaders. Before the rally yesterday, Burjanadze told journalists the state would put political representatives from both the opposition and the government on the broadcaster’s board of supervisors.

“This will make it easier to reach consensus,” Burjanadze said, adding that the public broadcaster’s staff have been doing a professional job and would not be dismissed.

The opposition have accused the public broadcaster of being biased in favor of president-elect Mikheil Saakashvili. An OSCE media monitoring report agreed that most Georgian television networks, including the public broadcaster, were unbalanced in their coverage and policies during the presidential campaign.

Burjanadze has said more issues are under negotiation, but neither she nor opposition leaders would offer further details.

Political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze says the compromise on the public broadcaster was a good move toward resolving the political standoff in Georgia.

“The public broadcaster was always under the government’ s influence…. But now the government sees they don’t have enough power to try and fully control the broadcaster. And I think this is a very serious step for democracy,” he said.

Opposition leaders were far from satisfied, however. Coalition member Koba Davitashvili told the rally yesterday they will continue to fight for changes in the Central Election Commission and the nation’s courts.

The next protest, he said, would be in front of a court. The opposition has not decided on a day or time for the rally.

Ex-Imedi TV anchor Giorgi Targamadze, who the night before had announced he is forming a new political party, joined the opposition campaigners to loud applause from the crowd.

“I came here to fight alongside you,” he told demonstrators. “Anyone who goes against their own people always loses.”

Protestors, whose ranks were somewhat smaller than a January 13 rally in central Tbilisi, seemed determined to continue with the demonstrations.

“They rigged the vote, they all lie,” Marina Jangulashvili said of the government. “I don’t want Saakashvili to be our president. Our rights are not being upheld.”

Some protestors spoke of Burjanadze, the acting president leading negotiations with the opposition, as a trusted and moderating force.

“Even a child knows the elections were rigged,” said Manana Sanikidze. “When I was in front of parliament during the Rose Revolution, someone told Nino Burjanadze, ‘Nino, I am standing next to you,’ and Nino answered, ‘You are standing with all of Georgia.’ Now I am asking Burjanadze to stand next to her people as she did before. We respect her and don’t want to see her with [Giga] Bokeria, [Kakha] Bendukidze, and [Maia] Nadiradze [all unpopular ruling party figures].”

Opposition leaders, playing up the recent New Year’s amnesty of prisoners and the public broadcaster decision as victories against the government, repeated vows to press forward for a redo of the presidential election.

“No steps back,” coalition member Gia Tortladze told the Messsenger. “We will not stop our protests, and if Saakashvili decides to hold his inauguration on January 20 [as planned] we will answer him with a massive rally.”