Parliamentary Majority Leader Responds to CoE Criticism
In an interview to the Georgian daily 24 Hours leader of the National Movement parliamentary faction MP Maia Nadiradze spoke about the criticism voiced in the draft resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) over ?an inadequate model of autonomy in Adjara? and high electoral threshold, which is an obstacle for ?a pluralist and genuinely representative Parliament.?
MP Maia Nadiradze explained the Georgian government?s refusal to reduce electoral threshold from current 7 to 5%, as recommended by the Council of Europe (CoE), with, as she put it, persisting threat that ?enemies of Georgia? could have endorsed into the Parliament their puppet political forces.
?Only 90.000 votes are needed to clear 5% electoral threshold in Georgia. Those countries with cruel intentions towards us can take an advantage of this and can always finance and use certain forces in the country [like Georgia], where there is a huge experience of corruption and fraud. We do not oppose emergence of an opposition forces, but we [oppose] emergence of false political forces,? Maia Nadiradze said.
MP Maia Nadiradze said while commenting on Adjara?s autonomy that a current status of Adjara was a result of the Georgian government?s decision to take a moderate stance against the background of two opposite positions, which persisted regarding the Adjara?s autonomy, before the current status was approved in 2004.
?On the one hand there were groups demanding lifting of autonomy at all and on the other hand there were forced wanting to preserve those rights, which Adjara enjoyed during the [ex-Adjarian leader Aslan] Abashidze? regime? One might ask: why do we need autonomy for Adjara at all?.. It was really created as a result of our enemies? agreement [Kars agreement between Soviet Russia and Ottoman Empire]? But the autonomous status persists for about 70 years already and abolishment of this status would have triggered bad feelings among many people,? MP Maia Nadiradze, who leads the ruling party?s parliamentary faction, said.
