Ex-PM Nogaideli in Favor of Parliamentary System

Zurab Nogaideli, a former prime minister and a leader of Movement for Fair Georgia party, said he was in favor of switching from the presidential to the parliamentary system of governance.

“The era of chiefs should end in Georgia by [President] Saakashvili’s resignation and instead there should be many, many leaders,” Nogaideli said at a news conference on February 10. “The era, when decisions are made by one person and his team, should also end. Time of collective decision-making should come instead. In the event of the parliamentary system it is less likely that we will have one-party government. This will be a coalition government.”

In contrast to a group of other opposition parties, Nogaideli said it was “premature to talk” about early presidential and parliamentary elections, because that was not “the society’s order” at the moment. He, however, also said that it was up to opposition to trigger this type of “order” among the society.

“The society’s demand is not related to the Saakashvili’s resignation or early presidential and parliamentary elections,” he said. “But if we [the opposition parities] are active, this demand will be raised in several weeks or months… And then President Saakashvili and his team will have to resign and I think that early elections, both presidential and parliamentary will be held then.”

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