Nino Burjanadze: Interim President with a Daunting Task

Burjanadze – the President for 40 days.

Dr. Nino Burjanadze, 39-years-old chairperson of the Georgian parliament emerged as Georgia’s interim president, after almost 30 year-old rule of Eduard Shevardnadze has crumbled under public protests.

The first female to chair the Georgian parliament, she is one of very few who was led to politics by the professional path, not through the stormy public rallies of 1990s or the quieter corridors of the soviet nomenklatura.

Graduate of the law department of Tbilisi State University, she got her doctoral degree in international organizations and maritime law at Moscow State University in 1990. Since 1991 taught the international organizations’ course at the International Law and Relations department of Tbilisi State University. Her students say they frequently recognize the tone and skill of a professor when she handles her colleagues at the stormy sessions.

Composed, principled and articulate, Burjanadze earns public respect and manages to find the common tongue with the most bitter of opponents. But the storm of the protest is not the place she enjoys most.

Dr. Burjanadze said she was afraid, when she was elected a parliamentary chairperson in a deeply strained climate of partisan rivalry, when both ruling and opposition coalitions were collapsing in November 2001. A compromise candidate, she managed to steer what has become a ramshackle assembly torn by the pre-election ambitions to fall 2003, when the new elections were expected to bring the regime change.

But amidst the widespread election fraud it was public protests, which have toppled Shevardnadze’s presidency. Dr. Burjanadze was called back into the line duty as the President ad interim, to weather the storm and once again guide Georgia to the point of elections.

To the disappointment of many in Georgia, but not unexpectedly she decided not to run for the presidency, yielding to the widely popular leader – Mikheil Saakashvili. As a leader of the united election list of the opposition parties, she is poised to return to the position of the Parliamentary Chairperson in 2004 and continue her career with the Georgian legislature.

Burjanadze became MP in 1995, already having consulted the foreign relations committee since 1991. She chaired the legal committee in 1998-99 and the foreign relations committee in 2000-2001. She was also the first non-partisan parliamentary chairperson, with only herself to rely on in the political battles.

Indeed, Burjanadze is a part of the Georgian elite and some of her critics disagree with an image of Burjanadze a lonely warrior. Burjanadze family is quite influential, with her father steering the major state grain-mills and controlling large share of the bread production. Her husband, Mr. Badri Bitsadze, until the last days served the deputy general prosecutor, forced to resign under political pressure of Shevardnadze administration.

But Burjanadze proved she can and will act independently. She angrily sidelined the mock-title of the "Bread Princess" that some sharp tongues used against her in the beginning of the political ascent, hinting at financial backing of her father.

She also managed to steer clear from accusations of the conflict of interests, when her husband was appointed to the prosecutor’s office. Burjanadze says although she was "hesitant" to agree on her husband’s decision, "everybody sees that none of us [herself and Mr. Bitsadze] have used the positions for the political gains." As a parliamentary chairperson Dr. Burjanadze claimed she "is not satisfied" by the work of the prosecutor general’s office.

Burjanadze argues she is "very free and independent, and does only things [she] believe[s] are correct." This principled and almost militant commitment to her beliefs in the parliament earned her some public respect and reputation. She is also liked for targeted and professional rebuke of some of Russia’s accusations, especially as they were delivered with her flawless Russian with a slight Muscovite accent.

While the politics are her chief occupation acting President is sad she can not be as attentive mother to her two boys as she would have liked to. But Burjanadze says she is happy to have a loving husband and hopes that her children understand that their mother "does something important for the country."

For her education and humane attitude, Burjanadze is received well both in the capital and in the rural areas. She acts as a woman – caring and even apologetic for many shortfalls of the government, which earns some respect in contrast to more bossy male political figures. "I have enough conscience to apologize, because we [the government] fail to provide even the simplest services. People have full right to be far more aggressive against this government, but they, amazingly, are not."

In a situation when things are changing in the country, she is now in the position to prove the new leaders can manage things better than the previous administration. Burjanadze’s role as a consensus figure and the mediator would be vital in the new political setup when the partisan political landscape needs to be restored.

That role is likely to be fortified by popular support. In a sharply divided and quickly radicalizing political landscape of Georgia, Nino Burjanadze’s moderate stance was in demand. In December 2002, 49% of Tbilisi residents supported her policies, a significant growth from 17% in August of the same year. One year later, in August 2003 the confidence rate was highest among the Georgian politicians – stunning 60%.

So far, Dr. Burjanadze has showed she is a capable manager and enlightened leader. Her immediate task is picking the pieces of Georgia’s political landscape and put them back into operation. This function is likely to be retained as she enters the 2004 parliament.