Lack of Clarity in Opposition Plans

Opposition leaders have failed to elaborate concrete plans after two-hour long consultations on June 6.

Shalva Natelashvili, leader of the Labor Party, Levan Gachechiladze, co-leader of the eight-party opposition coalition; Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party from eight-party coalition; as well as Davit Usupashvili and Giorgi Targamadze, leaders of Republicans and Christian-Democratic parties, respectively, participated in a meeting held in the Labor Party headquarters.

Leaders said after the meeting that those opposition parties, which cleared 5% threshold – opposition coalition, Labor Party and Christian-Democratic Party – will not attend the inaugural session of the parliament. The Christian-Democratic Party, however, has already said it clearly that it was against the boycott and not attending the inaugural session did not at all mean that the party was saying no to its MP mandates.

The eight-party coalition said it would go ahead with plans to hold a protest rally outside the parliament on the day when its first session is convened. Earlier the coalition and Labor Party said they would launch protesting late on June 8. They also said that the protest rally will be “peaceful.”

Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party said consultations would continue about further plans. “We will talk about the triggering of new political processes,” he said after the meeting.

Davit Usupashvili, the Republican Party leader, said that entering the new parliament would only have a sense if the opposition parties push for joint demands. Usupashvili said on June 5 that among those demands could be holding of early local elections.

There is disagreement over the tactic within the eight-party bloc itself. Some hardliners within the coalition are calling for radical measures to including those of not letting ruling party lawmakers to give access to the parliament building on the day when the legislative body holds its inaugural session.

Disagreement persists over the boycott of the parliament as well. Two individual members of the eight-party coalition – Gia Tsagareishvili and Gia Tortladze – said they would make a decision on the matter “individually,” indicating that they would not necessarily follow the decision of the coalition. Tsagareishvili has already said that there was no reason in boycott after the Christian-Democratic Party said it would not say no to its MP mandates.