Opposition Consults on Possible Boycott of Parliament

Giorgi Targamadze, leader of the Christian-Democratic Party, met with leaders from the nine-party opposition bloc to discuss possible boycotting of the new parliament.

After talks with Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of New Rights Party – part of the nine-party bloc – Targamadze said that his party was yet undecided about the proposal to boycott the new parliament.

“We are presently discussing the fact that all those moves, which will be taken by the united opposition, Labor Party, Christian-Democratic Party, be oriented to the results instead of false expectations,” he told journalists after talks.

He declined to speak about details of the talk and said it was “a working process.”

“All the proposals need to be discussed both within the [Christian-Democratic] party and at the negotiating table with other representatives of the opposition,” Targamadze added.

Targamadze also said that his party’s final answer would be available “some of these days.”

On May 22 Targamadze hinted that he was skeptical about the boycott and said that “boycotting turned out to be unpromising in Georgia.”

MP Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party – part of the nine-party opposition bloc – said entering the new parliament would amount “to legitimization of the dishonesty and fraudulence that took place within past month” during the entire electoral process.

He also said: “We do not plan to enter the Saakashvili’s Majlis” – a reference to a legislative body in Turkmenistan. Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights Party, said on May 22 that “the Saakashvili’s regime” was following the path towards “authoritarianism and Turkmenization.”

Giorgi Tsagareishvili, an individual member of the nine-party bloc, said: “I think that everyone should be unanimous over this issue. If we plan to boycott something, everybody should join us. It should not happen that several parties enter the parliament and other not.”

Jondi Bagaturia, the leader of Georgian Troup party – part of the nine-party bloc – also said that the boycott would work if all three opposition blocs, which cleared the 5% threshold join it.

“It will have result if it is carried our by the entire opposition. In this case I mean the parliamentary opposition – we [nine-party opposition bloc], Labor Party and Christian-Democratic Party. If someone sells himself very openly and starts cooperating with the authorities openly, he will find it difficult to act on the opposition front in future,” he said.

Shalva Natelashvili, the Labor Party leader, who said on May 22 that his party would boycott the new parliament if others did the same, plans talks with the nine-party bloc later today.