Shevardnadze Ready to Compromise, but Talks with Opposition Failed
Despite the U.S. ambassador Richard Miles’ statement on November 12 that the opposition leaders and the President would hold meeting, the last-ditch talks were not held as the opposition leaders did not appear in the President’s office last night.
Mikheil Saakashvili, the opposition leader said that the authorities “offer the opposition that they would endorse three more members from our party in the new parliament.”
“This kind of horse-trading is absolutely unacceptable for us. If the President admits that the opposition won the elections, I will meet him anywhere,” Saakashvili added.
President Shevardnadze in the televised address late on November 12 said that he tried for the third time to meet the opposition leaders, but in vain.
“Maybe they [the opposition leaders] could not reach agreement what to offer me. We are ready for compromise. We will discuss with the Central Election Commission how this compromise might be achieved,” Eduard Shevardnadze said.
Chairperson of the Central Election Commission also visited the State Chancellery on November 12. However details of talks with the authorities remain confidential.
On the same day Zurab Chiaberashvili of the election watchdog NGO International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) held talks with the authorities in the President’s office and informed them regarding the results of the parallel vote tabulation (PVT), which was conducted by the ISFED.
Mikheil Saakashvili demands from the authorities to recognize results of the PVT, according to which the National Movement, led by Saakashvili, is leading the November 2 parliamentary elections, while in the official results the polls are led by the Shevardnadze’s party For New Georgia and Aslan Abashidze’s Revival Union. National Movement is only on the third place.
