The political foes of the country’s new leadership held series of consultations with head of the Adjara Autonomous Republic Aslan Abashidze last week.
Aslan Abashidze has already announced that Adjara would boycott presidential, as well as the parliamentary elections, if the country’s new leadership, which was denounced by Abashidze as illegal, refuses to put it off until June.
Nino Burjanadze, the Interim President is expected to visit Adjarian capital Batumi on December 10 to hold talks with Aslan Abashidze. The country’s new leadership will try to convince Abashidze not to boycott presidential elections, scheduled for January 4, as it would further deteriorate provisional government’s efforts to consolidate its authority.
Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, former spokesperson of Shevardnadze’s bloc, Shalva Natelashvili, the Labor Party leader and Vakhtang Rcheulishvili, the leader of Socialist Party, who was the member of Shevardnadze’s bloc as well, held separate talks with Aslan Abashidze in Batumi, the Adjarian capital, on December 6-7.
“We have already announced that the Labor Party would boycott the upcoming presidential elections, as we consider the current authorities illegitimate. They usurped the power,” Shalva Natelashvili, the Labor Party leader told Civil Georgia on December 8.
Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, who has created a new political movement New Power, also said earlier that her new political movement would boycott the elections and demanded postponement of vote.
“After the recent events [the velvet revolution] people are in shock and holding of the elections in these circumstances would be inadmissible,” Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia said on December 6.
Vakhtang Rcheulishvili says that the Socialists Party’s decision will largely depend on Abashidze’s position. “We will boycott elections only in case if Abashidze finally announces that he will boycott the elections,” the Socialist Party leader told Civil Georgia on December 8.
Observes, as well as the politicians, suggest that Abashidze’s final decision will largely depend on the outcome of the talks between Nino Burjanadze, the Interim President and Aslan Abashidze, which are anticipated in the nearest days.
The new leadership has already made conciliatory messages towards the Adjarian leader. Nino Burjanadze, as well as State Minister Zurab Zhvania and main presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili expressed readiness to hold talks with Abashidze.
All the three leaders, who led the November 23 bloodless revolution to oust Shevardnadze, admitted that “Abashidze is an important figure in Georgia’s internal politics.” However, Saakashvili added that boycotting of presidential elections “is equal to triggering destabilization and civil war in Georgia.”
Akaki Asatiani, the leader of the Traditionalists party, who split from the ‘velvet revolution’ leaders after they declared Saakashvili as the presidential candidate, also held talks with Aslan Abashidze last week.
He said that it would be very hard to reach a compromise between the provisional government and the Adjarian leader. “I am not very optimistic, however I don’t think reaching of agreement would be impossible,” Akaki Asatiani said at a news briefing on December 8.
Member of the acting Parliament Sandro Bregadze, who until recently was Abashidze’s ally says that all those political figures, who have visited Batumi for talks with Abashidze are “unsuccessful politicians.” “I don’t mean only Asatiani,” he added.
“These politicians can not stay on the political stage without the support of an influential person, in this case Aslan Abashidze. And now they try to convince him to boycott elections and resist the current authorities. I hope Abashidze will not agree. I hope Nino Burjanadze’s visit will defuse tensions,” Sandro Bregadze says.
Observers say that Abashidze is horse-trading with the new leadership in order to secure his authoritarian power in Adjara. During Shevardnadze’s decade-long presidency in Georgia, Abashidze has succeeded to establish his unilateral rule in Adjara and after his radical political foes took over the power in Tbilisi, Abashidze is desperate to retain it.
