Opposition Ups Ante, as Ruling Party Stands Firm

In addition to an ongoing hunger strike, the opposition has begun what it called permanent protest rallies to force the authorities to compromise on key election rules.

About 10,000 people rallied on Monday evening, March 24, outside Parliament. Afterwards, what the opposition referred to as a “picket” was set up outside the president”s office at the state chancellery.

The rally, under the banner of “protection of Imedi TV,” attracted more people than previous rallies held since March 9, when the eight-party opposition coalition began its hunger strike. Although the number of protesters dwindled by midnight, opposition leaders said protesters would maintain an overnight vigil and would not disperse.

Shortly after the rally began, coalition leader MP Levan Gachechiladze told supporters that he had asked members of the Georgian intelligentsia sympathetic to the opposition to meet with Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze. Five mediators, mainly film directors and actors, subsequently said that they had failed to receive “any concrete answers” from Burjanadze. “She asked for one more day, because it seems that she is not capable of taking decisions independently,” actor Gogi Kavtaradze said. When he asked protesters outside the parliament to “give [the authorities] one more day for a response” he was booed by the crowed with many shouting “no, no.” Opposition leaders then decided to establish a “picket” outside the state chancellery, which is just a few hundred meters from Parliament.

The opposition has had one demand since March 20 – electing 75 majoritarian MPs in multi-mandate constituencies, instead of single-mandate constituencies. The ruling party has already endorsed amendments to the election code envisaging electing one majoritarian MP in each of the 75 single-mandate constituencies in the new 150-member parliament. 

The authorities are determined to retain this rule, which is seen to provide them with an advantage in the parliamentary elections scheduled for May 21. The law stipulates that a majoritarian MP candidate winning more than others and more than 30% of the vote would be declared the outright winner in the first round without the need for a runoff.

“The elections will be held under the law which has already been adopted,” MP Pavle Kublashvili of the ruling party said on the late-night political talk show, Primetime, aired by Rustavi 2 TV on March 24.

In another sign of government intransigence, MP Kublashvili also said that there were no plans to fire Levan Tarkhnishvili, the chairman of the Central Election Commission.

Giga Bokeria, an influential lawmaker from the ruling party, has been equally unyielding. In a newspaper interview published on March 24 he said that the decision on electing 75 majoritarian MPs in single-mandate constituencies “will not be revised.”

MP Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party, part of the eight-party opposition coalition said late on March 24: “There is only one way to force the authorities to compromise: to gather outside the state chancellery and make our voice heard.”

Up to 40 opposition activists are continuing a hunger strike outside Parliament.

March 25 marks the seventeenth day in a hunger strike for five politicians from the eight-party coalition – three of whom are MPs. Others are on their sixteenth and fifteenth day of hunger strike. Six lawmakers from the New Rights Party camped just outside Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze”s office inside Parliament are on their sixteenth day (MP Irakli Iashvili joined his colleagues from the New Rights Party on March 13).

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