Diplomats Tell Opposition, Authorities to Show ‘Responsible Behaviour’

An ambassadorial working group on elections, co-chaired by UN and OSCE missions in Georgia, called on political parties and the authorities to show “responsible behaviour” as opposition plans protest rally on November 7 to mark the first anniversary of police break up of anti-government demonstration.

“Having in mind the troubling events of November 2007, the Ambassadors call upon all political forces and relevant security authorities to show responsible behaviour and commitment to democratic principles during the protest actions announced for 7 November 2008, and to express their positions within the legal framework and to avoid violence,” the ambassadorial group said in a statement released on November 6.

It also called on the authorities and the opposition “to engage in an open dialogue seeking lasting constructive solutions to issues of importance to Georgia and Georgians.”

The ambassadorial group is comprised of diplomats from the OSCE-member states, the Council of Europe representative, the head of the European Commission delegation and the UN Resident Coordinator in Georgia.

A group of opposition leaders, planning a protest rally on November 7, met with a group of foreign diplomats on November 6. The opposition leaders said the meeting aimed at informing foreign diplomats about the opposition plans. Levan Gachechiladze, a former opposition presidential candidate; Kakha Kukava of the Conservative Party; Koba Davitashvili of the People’s Party; Eka Beselia of the Movement for United Georgia and Nestan Kirtadze of the Labor Party participated in the meeting.

Kakha Kukava said that the opposition’s immediate goals were to change of the existing election system and “the return of Imedi TV to its legal owners” and the eventual goal was early parliamentary and presidential elections in spring, 2009.

He told the RFE/RL Georgian service on November 6, that the rally will gather at 2pm on November 7 outside the Parliament. The rally, he said, would then march towards the Presidential residence in the Avlabari district of Tbilisi where the opposition would hand over to the President’s administration the opposition’s demands.

“They involve free media, including return of Imedi TV to its legal owners and change of the public TV’s leadership; release of political prisoners – 16 persons – who still remain in prison since last November events and early parliamentary and presidential elections based on the new election code in spring,” Kukava said.

“The one important issue here is that these are our proposals to the authorities; but the one involving Imedi TV is a demand and if this demand is not met before November 23, the protest rallies will be resumed in various forms,” he added.

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