Election talks between Opposition 8 and Ruling party ruined

Negotiations on the election reform between the authorities and 8 oppositional parties (Republicans, Our Georgia-Free Democrats, Christian Democrats, National Forum, Conservatives , Georgia’s way, New Rights, People’s party) are finished. Statements made by the authorities and oppositional representatives made this very clear on March 30.

“With those parties, achieving any agreement is almost impossible. The oppositional 8 left the negotiation table due to our initiative, all regions to have their representatives to the Parliament. Their behaviour is shameful, “said MP Pavle Kublashvili, on March 30, after the meeting at CEC, where most of the representatives of the oppositional 8 were absent. This absence together with various statements made by the opposition, gave reason for the authorities to blame the opposition of breaking down the negotiations.

The fact that the negotiation process is practically ruined was overlooked by Christian-Democrat, Levan Vepkhvadze, as he has mentioned, “the authorities are ready to go through the process with separate oppositional political forces (not with those 8) in dialogue and the Christian-Democrats are ready to play the mediator role.”

In response to the authorities' statements and accusations that the opposition and its tactics were responsible for wrecking the process, the remaining 7 oppositional parties state that they have not left the negotiation and that the success of the process depends on the Government, “if the authorities manage to present adequate suggestions on election system changes, the 8 are ready to work on their refinement. Otherwise, dialogue with the authorities has no meaning, “representative of Our Georgia-Free Democrats, Irakli Chikovani, said. A slightly different attitude was offered by the Leader of National Forum, Kakha Shartava, “the authorities tried to block the process on March 23, when they did not come to the negotiations and stated that there was government’s week to the Parliament. They also listened to Prime Minister Gilauri, on March 30, however they managed to come to CEC. It was just an attempt from the authorities to show to the society that the opposition was to blame for wrecking the negotiations.”

While the authorities and certain oppositional forces are engaged in finding who is guilty and who is not, some oppositional representatives have already started thinking on forming an alternative oppositional 8 , “when the situation is in a blind alley, to our mind, the only way out is the creation of an alternative oppositional coalition, which would sit around the table with the authorities without blackmailing and preconditions”, Zaza Svanadze, member of Movement for Fair Georgia, said. He mentioned that members of his party, We Ourselves and Freedom Party will participate in the coalition.

According to the analyst, Giorgi Volski, there are a lot of shortcomings in the current election system and it requires reform, otherwise changing the country's reality is less likely. As for the current situation and the possible way out from this blind alley, he claimed that “strengthening pressure on the authorities from the international community would help. If they decide to use their levers they will manage to make the authorities concede in this field.”