Opposition start to campaign after election talks go quiet

The Opposition 8 is no longer waiting for the authorities regarding the renewal of negotiations on election environment improvement and is launching its active political campaign- leader of Conservative Party, Zviad Dzidziguri, said on May 4.

According to him, there are some “ signs of life” and “ some hints” from the authorities' side regarding renewal of negotiations, however without any concrete results and the opposition 8 is no longer satisfied with only promises, “by active political campaign we mean meeting with the population, intensive collaboration with the international community. We did not have any hope that the authorities might concede something in the negotiations, we did foreseen this and that is why we have launched our political campaign, which we are activating now, “Dzidziguri, said.

May is also a very important period for the Representative Public Assembly, before the massive street rally, which is planned for May 21, the members of the Assembly have started holding preventive demonstrations in front of city municipalities from May 4. According to one of the leaders of the Representative Public Assembly, Shalva Obgaidze, these demonstrations will be an appeal to the employees of the municipalities to cease unjust actions and really think of the people before becoming victims of the destruction of the current regime.”

Analyst, Kakha Katsitadze states that the majority of those parties, which are now in the opposition 8 would be ready for radical steps, if they see radical aspirations in the society, “it is difficult for me to say definitely, how the opposition 8 can realize that it is more acceptable for the current authorities to listen to the West’s complaints than to entertain any domestic negotiations. I think that the opposition 8 sees this. Why would the authorities put their position under risk?” as the analyst has mentioned the opposition 8 has no levers to put pressure on the authorities and the fact that the oppositional eight does not name the exact limit and condition when they cease the process is the sign that they are ready to concede.

At the same time, Katsitadze talked about the possible radicalization of the parties within the opposition 8, “if there is radical aspiration in the society, most of the opposition 8 parties will become radical, if such aspirations seem unacceptable for Georgian people some oppositional parties, based on the authorities’ condition, will have 2, 3 or 5 deputies to the Parliament.”

As for the perspectives of the Representative Public Assembly, according to analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze, the success of the Assembly will depend on how the process is organized,“ the results of the street rallies will hinge on whether or not they are oriented on those points which would make the authorities concede, “ based on him, unlike some political forces, there are persons in the Assembly which are respected by people and this factor might consolidate forces and win people’s support.