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Burjanadze to Present Foundation

Nino Burjanadze, the former parliamentary chairperson, will unveil her newly set up Foundation for Democracy Development at a presentation in Tbilisi on July 7.

“Only will is not enough when you want to influence democracy development while in power,” Burjanadze said in an interview with the Georgian weekly newspaper, Kviris Palitra, published on July 7. “Sometimes the civil society sector can change the situation radically. While being part of the authorities, I spared no efforts to defend and implement what I thought was right, but often many issues were not resolved in a way I wanted.”

In the interview Burjanadze admitted for the first time taking ownership of a government residence in Tskneti, outside Tbilisi. She has had the property for the past seven years since she became parliamentary chairperson.

In early May, President Saakashvili issued a decree authorizing the sale of the residence on a 31,696 square meter plot of land to Burjanadze for a “token GEL 1.” The decree explained that the step was made because of Burjanadze’s efforts “in the development of parliamentarianism and democracy in Georgia”

“I have not even tried to hide this information,” Burjanadze said. “I do not want to hide something, which the public has the right to know. That house, where I have lived for the past seven years, was really bequeathed to me. Any developed country would create security guarantees to a person who has served twice as the parliamentary chairperson and twice as an acting president. This decision was taken for the security of my family.”

Burjanadze’s planned Foundation for Democratic Development is believed to be a grassroots organization that will serve as a platform for her political comeback.

In the newspaper interview she, however, said the organization would continue its operations even if she set up a political party sometime in the future.

She declined to answer a question on whether she wanted to run for the presidency in 2013 and said: “Let’s talk about it four years later.”

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