Opposition Eight Not to Give Up

Opposition parties are not going to give up negotiating with the authorities regarding improvements to the election environment in the country and are ready to appeal to the authorities with additional statements soon; this statement regarding the issue was made by opposition representatives on April 1.

“Our suggestions will not be a compromise; however they will be targeted so that the authorities cannot derail the process. We should not enable the Government to lead the process down a blind alley, “leader of Christian-Democratic Movement, Giorgi Targamadze, said.

Irakli Alasania, Leader of Our Georgia-Free Democrats, considers that areas still exist for negotiations, “the current situation exists because there is no political will from the authorities, however political dialogue must not die, as if that happens, the only way left will be to resort to violence, “Alasania stated and mentioned that all ways of putting pressure on the authorities can be justified to make the authorities concede in this field, “ it is time, for Saakashvili to see that most Georgians do not support his position. By being active in social networks, holding street rallies and any other form, Georgian society should show its protest. We support such kinds of activities, massive rallies are a means to put pressure on the Government, however the main political issues are always decided by political dialogue.” Alasania stated that at the end of May, opposition 8 will present its position concerning the issue for Georgian society and he hoped that this time, the negotiations will have some concrete results.

It is difficult to say how the authorities will respond on the issue, as according to them the opposition derailed the negotiations and their suggestions are unacceptable not only for them, for Georgian people as well, “rejection of majoritarian election system cannot be considered a victory of democracy and we are not going to trade on the issue with the opposition. Abolishing these positions will damage the regions residents first of all, “MP, Goka Gabashvili, said.

The same attitude has been seen by the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili , on April 2, “ there is a demand from opposition Georgian regions not to have their representatives to the Parliament, which is nonsense of course.”

As for Georgian analysts, a large number of them consider that the process will not show any results and all opposition attempts regarding the issue will be useless, as improvement of election environment is not in the authorities interest, Other analysts suppose that the process might be ended successfully, but only when the international community becomes actively involved in it.