Shevardnadze Warns Opposition, Hinting on Azeri Events
With the parliamentary elections less than two weeks away political tensions in Georgia increase as the opposition warns the authorities over mass protest rallies in case of ballot fraud; while President Shevardnadze hints that the government will follow the Azerbaijani authorities’ way of maintaining order after the elections.
“Why has it become necessary for the Azerbaijani President [Ilham Aliyev] to imprison up to 200 persons? He took all the measures in accordance with the local [Azeri] legislature. I do not threaten anyone, but I will not step back. I will do everything in order to hold normal elections,” Eduard Shevardnadze said at a news briefing on October 20.
Earlier on the same day President Shevardnadze said in his radiobroadcast that Georgia could not remain “indifferent to developments in a neighboring and friendly country” and expressed concern over the riots in Baku that took place after October 15 presidential elections. The Azerbaijani authorities claim disorders that led to death of four people were provoked by the opposition.
President Shevardnadze also warned that “some forces in Georgia are also interested in post-election destabilizations.”
Spokesperson of the presidential-backed election alliance For New Georgia Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia welcomed the results of the Azerbaijani presidential elections, saying that Ilham Aliyev’s victory would “guarantee stability in the region and implementation of the Project of Century [U.S.-backed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project].” She also said that opposition forces are interested in disorders after elections.
These statements of the authorities followed after several opposition parties warned the government that they would stage a mass protest rallies in case of authorities’ intentions to rig the November 2 parliamentary elections.
Mess in voter lists is the main concern of the opposition parties. The concerns came into public focus early in October when a full list of voters was displayed in the internet. This revealed the presence of many “dead souls,” voters long dead but still registered to a vote, while thousands of eligible voters were not included on the lists. The Central Election Commission (CEC) has to improve the lists till October 26, the final date for publication of voter lists.
Another opposition New Rights party accused the government of attempts to rig the votes of those Georgian citizens, who lived in foreign countries.
At a news briefing on October 20 Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights, claimed the authorities appointed employees of the Georgian embassies and consulates as members of the polling stations in foreign countries.
Gamkrelidze said that the authorities violated the election code, since the state officials have no right to become members of the election commissions. He said that the authorities intend to rig the votes of the Georgian expatriates with the assistance of the Georgian embassies.
The opposition claims that the authorities deliberately developed inaccurate voter lists in order to manipulate during the elections, while the authorities blame the old CEC and the opposition, however the old CEC was fully controlled by the pro-presidential members.
“If we see that the ballot is rigged and nothing is being done to improve the mess in the voter lists, we will give up race for parliamentary seats and start mass protest rallies,” Maia Nadiradze of the Saakashvili-National Movement opposition alliance said at a news briefing on October 15.
Later one of the leaders of the New Rights opposition party Levan Gachechiladze also warned that his party will join the protest rallies as well, in case of mass ballot rig. He said that the protest rally is not an attempt of destabilization. “The government itself will be a source of destabilization if it tries to rig the election results,” he said on October 20 in the interview with the Tbilisi-based Mze (the Sun) TV channel.
The tension between the opposition and the authorities was further fueled as a result of the war of words between President Shevardnadze and Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze, who leads the opposition election alliance Burjanadze-Democrats.
In almost every public speech President Shevardnadze has been slamming Burjanadze for “poor performance as Parliamentary Chairperson.” Earlier Burjanadze was accused by the presidential-backed election bloc of cooperating with the Russian secret services, allegations that are not still proved, despite Parliamentary Chairperson’s demands to investigate her “alleged links with the foreign country’s secret services.”
Observers say that the tensions on the eve of the elections may grow into mass protest after November 2, in case if a part of the society believes that their favorite party was discriminated during the elections.
“The events in Azerbaijan became possible because of the highly-suspected elections. If the governmental forces take the first place, overcoming other parties with significant number of votes, there naturally will be doubts that the elections were falsified and protests are anticipated. A voter may not see where and how exactly the fraud took place, but he or she and the whole part of the society will still protest. Many of them may commence illegal actions as well,” Davit Usupashvili, a legal expert, told Civil Georgia.
