Opposition Considers Alliance

Opposition politicians and activists may set up a new movement to boost coordination between the opposition parties, MP Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party said on January 8.

He said that the current authorities and their increasingly undemocratic tendencies should be confronted by their opponents through the ?teaming up of all forces with democratic values.?

?You know that we, the Conservative Party, had an election bloc [during the 2006 local elections] with the Republican Party, but that is not enough. This alliance should further expand through dialogue with other parties, as well as with non-partisan politicians. And in addition, there is a huge resource in civil society, among non-governmental organizations. So we are talking about the coordination of these forces and not simply the creation of a party,? MP Kukava said.

?A new force should be established no matter if it is a new party, or a bloc of parties. This kind of new force is needed in order to challenge the authorities in the 2008 parliamentary elections? Consultations about the issue are underway,? MP Zviad Dzidziguri of the Conservative Party said on January 8.

Some signs of a potential new alliance emerged in late October 2006 when a group composed of opposition politicians and activists from civil society organizations was set up with the aim, as the founders said, to develop a draft of a new constitution that will provide a ?genuine model? of checks and balances with an effective division of powers.

The group united Ana Dolidze of the non-governmental Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA), non-partisan MPs Koka Guntsadze and Gia Tortladze, as well as MP Kukava, among others. However, the group has not been active since then.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)