Chances for Unanimous Opposition Boycott Shrink

Giorgi Targamadze, the Christian-Democratic Party leader, has again indicated that his party would not support boycott of the new parliament.

He said that there have been electoral violations, but also added that “it does not mean that we should go to extremes.”

“We think that all resources should be used. Just recall previous parliaments and you will see that initially the opposition was not represented in large numbers [opposition ranks in the outgoing parliament increased after some lawmaker quit the ruling party]. The most important is that moral majority is on our side. We may be in the minority but truth and moral majority are on our side,” Targamadze said on May 23.

Earlier on Friday he held talks with the nine-party opposition bloc over the matter. The option of boycotting seems to be a controversial issue within the bloc itself. While some members of the bloc unequivocally call for the boycott, others are making more cautious remarks about the issue.

“The option [of boycotting the new parliament] is currently under consideration. At this stage I can not say anything about it,” Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, the leader of Party of Freedom, part of the nine-party opposition bloc, said on May 23. “The only thing I oppose is to respond violence with violence. This election was an act of violence on the entire territory of Georgia. But there should be no violent response to violence.”

Meanwhile, Shalva Natelashvili, the Labor Party leader, has again called on the nine-party bloc and Christian-Democratic Party to unanimously boycott the new parliament.

“Under current conditions we call on all opposition parties, which have cleared the threshold, to say no to our [MP] mandates. We should leave Mikheil Saakashvili’s party alone in the eyes of entire world and entire country that will automatically lead to the repeat parliamentary elections in the near future, which will be controlled by the people and not by Saakashvili,” Natelashvili said on May 23.

Davit Gamkrelidze, the New Rights Party leader – part of the nine-party bloc – was the first to call for the unanimous opposition boycott of the parliament on May 22.