Shevardnadze stands by his man
As it was expected, Tbilisi city council cast the vote of no confidence to the mayor. President Eduard Shevardnadze is not impressed.
The radical opposition with clear anti-Presidential agenda dominates the Tbilisi City Council. Hence, the clashes with executive branch of the municipality, seen as a proxy to President Eduard Shevardnadze were quite predictable. The first battle was won without much bloodshed – on November 15 most members of the city government resigned, and the council voted some of the remaining ones off.
On the same day, the City Council cast the vote of no confidence to Tbilisi mayor Vano Zodelava, locking itself into a skirmish with President Eduard Shevardnadze.
The Council lacks legal power to dismiss the mayor, who is appointed directly by the president. Therefore the vote of no confidence is legally merely a recommendation to Shevardnadze. On the other hand, both political opposition and civil groups are calling for an elective mayor of Tbilisi for long.
The decision of the Council is first and foremost a political one. Two winners of the local elections – the Labor Party and the New National Movement – rallied under the slogans of “Tbilisi without Shevardnadze.” Attacking the presidential appointee was thus a matter of the political honor and a test of Shevardnadze’s attitude to the opposition council.
President Shevardnadze responded promptly to the Council’s decision and declared his support to Zodelava. “Resigning of Zodelava would be inappropriate at the moment,” Shevardnadze said at his November18 briefing.
Presidential response has triggered an easily calculable outcry of the council. “Our goal is to liberate the city from the clans which are under Shevardnadze’s and Zodelava’s patronage. Tbilisi is not a city it used to be. And current government officials are ones to be blamed for this,” Mikheil Saakashvili, Chairman of the Council and the leader of the New National Movement, told Civil Georgia on November 18.
The Labor Party demanded impeachment of Mayor Zodelava as early as in September. Zurab Zhvania, Secretary of the Sakrebulo, told Civil Georgia. “Our party has evidence [against Zodelava]. A city should not have such a mayor. We will do everything in the Sakrebulo to impeach him,”
Levan Gachechiladze, leader of the New Rights party, nominally in opposition to the Labor-Nationalist alliance also believes that the mayor should go. “Even the President must respect decisions of the Council, a body elected by the people, even a decision to dismiss Zodelava,” he stated.
It seems likely that the Council will keep urging for Zodelava’s resignation and make confrontation with the president its trademark.
Vano Zodelava himself chooses a cautious path in dealing with the stormy Council. He announced on November 18 that he would request from the Parliament to make the Tbilisi mayor’s position an elective one. Meanwhile, the mayor attempts to beat the opposition on its own ground, as up to 200 supporters of Zodelava gather in protest rally against the Council decision.
Council chairman, Mikheil Saakashvili claimed, that the majority of the protesters were representatives of those district Gamgeobas (local executive bodies in Tbilisi districts), controlled by the mayor.
“I intentionally went out [to the streets] to see the protesters. And I saw only corrupt officials and those who were brought here either by force or deceit,” Mikheil Saakashvili told Civil Georgia.
Against the background of mounting political pressure, it does not seem that the Council would regain tranquility to address the vital social and economic concerns of the city inhabitants, including better emergency medical care and increase in pensions and wages.
“It is hard to foresee any improvement. President Shevardnadze is the one who stands behind these [political] tensions. He wants situation to destabilize so he would be able to enforce emergency situation and prolong his reign. The Constitution does not allow him to be elected for the third term or introduce some other high position for him to continue his leadership,” Beso Jugeli, Sakrebulo’s member from the National Movement, told Civil Georgia.
By Goga Chanadiri, Civil Georgia
