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Despite Abashidze’s Refusal to Boycott Elections, Opponents Remain Cautious
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| Adjara is till in the state of emergency. |
Frontrunner presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili hailed Abashidze’s decision and said, “his [Abashidze’s] choice let us think that it is possible to deal with him, but not at the expense of Georgia’s interests.”
Zurab Zhvania, the State Minister left for Adjara on December 30 to hold talks with Aslan Abashidze to further discuss the election-related issues, as well as other problems between the central and local authorities.
The participation of the Adjarian population in the elections is very important for the central authorities, as they fear of low voter turnout on January 4 elections, and boycott of Adjara would further increase these fears.
Mikheil Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania urged the citizens on December 30 for high voter turnout. “Some one might think that Saakashvili will win the elections and there is not need in going to the polling stations. It is mistake. Do not think that we have already won the elections,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.
Despite the good news from the Autonomous Republic, supporters of Saakashvili remain cautions over the Abashidze’s promise not to boycott elections.
“There is no reason for celebration till the elections are not over. We should expect any kind of surprise from Adjara,” Irakli Chubinishvili of National Movement, led by Saakashvili, said at a news briefing on December 30.
Some locals in Batumi also think that the Adjarian authorities might intimidate the voters in order to prevent them from voting.
“The authorities have been intimidating the population, especially in the high mountainous regions of Adjara, not to go to the polling stations, for a long time. So it will not be a surprise for me if there will be a low voter turnout in Adjara, despite the people’s will to cast ballot,” Giorgi Masalkin, who lectures at the Batumi Sate University, told Civil Georgia.
Aslan Abashidze, the head of Adjara Autonomous Republic, who allied with Shevardnadze before the velvet revolution in November, announced that state of emergency in the region and denounced the new leadership of the country as “illegitimate.” Later he threatened with boycotting the snap presidential elections, demanding from the central government to postpone elections until June.
Observers say that international pressure and mounting protest of the local population of the Autonomous Republic played a key role in Abashidze’s decision to open polling stations in the region.
“If the president of Georgia was elected without the participation of our autonomous republic it would be a historic stain on Adjara and a catastrophe for the whole country,” Aslan Abashidze said in his televised speech broadcasted by the Adjara TV on December 28.
“We agreed, I and Mr. [Richard] Miles [the U.S. ambassador in Georgia], that it would be better to put aside confrontation [with the country’s new authorities],” he added.
U.S. ambassador Richard Miles held talks with Aslan Abashidze for the three times in December. Deputy assistant of the U.S. Secretary of State Lynn Pascoe also visited Batumi in early December to convince Abashidze not to boycott elections.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe Walter Schwimmer also called Abashidze to open polling stations in the Autonomous Republic, “as Adjara is the part of Georgia” during the meeting with Abashidze in Strasbourg on December 18.
Along with the international pressure, the protest of the local population of Adjara is also increasing towards the Abashidze’s decade-long unilateral rule in the region and his intention to boycott the elections.
The group of students established a committee, which aims at promoting civil rights in Adjara. The similar committee was created in Tbilisi as well after the fraudulent November 2 parliamentary elections, aiming at mobilization of students to protest against the Shevardnadze’s government.
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| CEC and Adjarian election administration chiefs look through the voter lists in one of the precincts in Batumi |
The voter lists were made through the voter registration procedure, during which the citizens went to the polling stations and filled out the special forms. More than 1,7 million voters have undergone the procedure. However, this number does not include the voters residing in Adjara Autonomous Republic, where the voter registration was not held.
The Chairman of the Central Election Commission says that the voter lists of Adjara, which were used during the fraudulent November 2 parliamentary elections are not reliable. “On the elections day only those voters should be taken into account [in Adjara], which come to the polling stations and cast ballot,” Zurab Tchiaberashvili said on December 29.
However, the issue, as Tchiaberashvili says, “still remains under discussion,” with the Adjarian election officials.
“There are around 289,000 voters in Adjara and we will need this number of ballot papers for January 4,” Ednar Shamilashvili, Chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Adjara Autonomous Republic to Civil Georgia.
Many election observers cast doubts over this number and claim that the voter lists in Adjara are over-inflated.
Despite these problems, many experts say that the most important is that the breakthrough has been made and Abashidze said no to boycott.
Professor Bernard Owen, who is the expert at the European Commission for Democracy through Law of the Council of Europe, better known as the Venice Commission, says that due to the emergency conditions it is impossible to implement all the necessary measures for the elections, considered by the law. “In the current situation the political decision was of crucial importance,” he told Civil Georgia.
State of emergency in the region is yet another obstacle to the elections in Adjara, as according to the law elections cannot be held in the emergency. It is anticipated that the issue will be addressed during the talks between Aslan Abashidze and Zurab Zhvania on December 30.
