President Saakashvili has set October 5 as the official date for local self-governance elections, taking opposition parties by surprise.
In early August Chief of the President’s Administration Giorgi Arveladze said elections would be held in early December – a date that was slightly later than the one announced by the President this April, when he said that “local elections will be held in, or around, November.”
Early December was a comfortable date for the opposition parties, as they thought there was enough time to define their tactics. In August the major opposition parties, which have been engaged in active consultations with each other throughout the summer about the possibility of forming a coalition, even took a pause and decided to resume talks in September.
But when October 5 was set as the official election date most opposition politicians voiced their protests, saying that the authorities have left them no time to campaign and have effectively taken away their ability to compete with the ruling party.
Opposition parties must now agree on how they might cooperate before September 7 because, according to the law, parties that want to unite in an election bloc have to submit a relevant appeal to the Central Elections Commission (CEC) 28 days before the elections.
The law also says that parties that want to run in the elections should submit appeals to the Central Election Commission (CEC) 38 days before the elections – a deadline that expires on August 28, according to the CEC.
“The authorities’ decision was very surprising. They have set [the date for elections] just 40 days [before that date]. This means that the authorities lied when they announced that elections would be held in December,” MP Pikria Chikhradze of the opposition New Rights party told Civil Georgia on August 28.
She also said that manipulation with the election date shows that the authorities are using all available levers to gain an advantage.
“This means that the authorities are afraid,” MP Chikhradze added.
MP Davit Berdzenishvili of the opposition Republican Party said the authorities have again showed their “artfulness.”
“President Saakashvili lied to society when he voiced, through Arveladze, that elections would be held in December. The new date [October 5] creates too many problems for us, as it means that there is too little time; it means that despite the current election code, which is in favor of the authorities, they are still afraid of the elections and are sparing no efforts in creating problems for the opposition; it means that now we have to act very promptly,” MP Berdzenishvili told Civil Georgia on August 28.
“The decision has once again proved that the President has no will to hold legitimate elections. The opposition parties will gather very soon to decide our tactics,” MP Kakha Kukava of the opposition Conservative Party told Civil Georgia on August 28.
The opposition Labor Party officials say that the early election date proves that their stance about boycotting elections is “the only correct position.”
“Now the most effective tactic will be boycotting. We should now launch an aggressive anti-election campaign. Of course this is not a positive and favorable tactic; this is a more compulsory tactic which was forced by the authorities. We will continue consultations with other opposition parties over this issue,” Jondi Pagaturia of the Labor Party told Civil Georgia on August 28.
The opposition Freedom Party also adheres to this stance. “I can only reiterate now that there is no reason to run in these elections,” Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, the leader of the Freedom Party, told Imedi television on August 28.
MP Pikria Chikhradze said that she cannot yet speak about her party’s plans. “But I can say that the opposition should gather from tomorrow to start consultations about future plans,” she added.
News about the setting of October 5 as an elections date broke late on August 27, when a press-release was posted on the President’s official web-site saying that Mikheil Saakashvili signed a relevant decree on August 26.
“The President of Georgia has decided to hold local elections on October 5 after consultations with the Parliamentary Chairperson [Nino Burjanadze] and after taking into consideration the positions of various political organizations. These will be the first ever elections in Georgia’s history when residents of each district and town will elect the local government themselves,” the press release reads.
The decree was signed 40 days before the elections date, as envisaged by the law.
Davit Usupashvili, the leader of opposition Republican Party, said that it is unacceptable when a decree on setting the date for elections signed on August 26 takes almost two days to become public.
Unlike other opposition parties, the new elections date seems to have a lesser effect on the plans of ex-Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili’s Georgia’s Way party. The latter has already defined its tactics and decided to run in the elections without teaming up with other parties. Meanwhile, the rest of the opposition now has to decide if and how they will cooperate, and then launch their election campaigns.
