Opposition Ready to Meet Bakradze to Arrange Talks with Saakashvili

Opposition parties, behind the ongoing protests rallies, said they were ready to meet with Parliamentary Chairman, Davit Bakradze, to arrange “a major meeting” between the opposition and President Saakashvili.

Salome Zourabichvili, leader of Georgia’s Way party, told journalists that the opposition has selected a group of four negotiators for that purpose.

The group includes: Gubaz Sanikidze of National Forum; Tina Khidasheli of the Republican Party, part of Alliance for Georgia; Viktor Dolidze from Irakli Alasania’s political team, also part of Alliance for Georgia and Koka Guntsadze, an individual opposition politician.

“This group is ready to meet with Bakradze as a preparatory meeting for the talks with Saakashvili,” Zourabichvili said after the opposition leaders met in the office of Nino Burjanadze’s party Democratic Movement-United Georgia.

“Another group of negotiators will be established, which will be ready to meet with Saakashvili after he arrives back [from Prague],” she added.

She also said that as of now the opposition had also decided to put off its plans of blocking the key highways.

Meanwhile, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, leader of Freedom party, part of Alliance for Freedom, did not attend the opposition leaders’ meeting, said that he was against of the meeting with either Saakashvili or Bakradze. He said that his party would not participate in such meeting. Alliance for Freedom was among the group of opposition parties, which are organizers of the ongoing street protests.

“Meeting with Saakashvili will have no sense,” Gamsakhurdia told Imedi television on May 8. “The only way out is peaceful, democratic protest rallies that should lead us to real compromise. I think they [authorities] are not ready for it yet.”   

”We have information that they will not accept any proposal even in respect of the public television, to say nothing about early elections,” Gamsakhurdia said.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)