Ex-PM Nogaideli, Ex-Defense Minister Okruashvili Show Signs of Alliance

• Alasania, Gachechiladze exchange criticism

Zurab Nogaideli, ex-PM and leader of the Movement for Fair Georgia and Irakli Okruashvili, former defense minister and leader of the Movement for United Georgia released a joint written statement on June 10 calling on the opposition to unite.

The statement calls on the opposition forces for setting up of "joint structures" in order "to change Saakashvili’s authoritarian and corrupt regime." Nogaideli and Okruashvili, who was granted asylum by France and now lives in Paris, said that the united opposition should then table a concrete plan on how to "come out from the crisis."

"This should be a broad unity, where doors should not be closed for anyone," Nogaideli said in an interview with Maestro TV on June 10.
 
Ex-PM’s party Movement for Fair Georgia is in coalition with Party of People and Conservative Party, the bloc known as National Council. The National Council garnered 8.2% of votes in the May 30 local elections and was fourth in Tbilisi after the ruling National Movement party, Alliance for Georgia and Christian-Democratic Movement. The coalition has cleared 5% threshold, necessary for endorsing its candidates through party-list, proportional system in at least 23 out of 64 municipalities throughout the country. Okruashvili’s party boycotted the local elections and has not been active for recent months.

The joint statement by Okruashvili and Nogaideli follows their meeting held on June 8.

The Georgian press has been speculating recently about possibility of emergence of a new coalition, which may also include ex-parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze’s party, as well as Levan Gachechiladze, leader of public movement Defend Georgia and possibly ex-public defender Sozar Subari, who has quit the Alliance for Georgia after the local elections. Although there have been reports of some separate consultations between these figures, no concrete outcome has yet emerged.

On the other side of opposition front is Alliance for Georgia, whose leader Irakli Alasania has come under criticism of some opposition figures recently for a failure to succeed in the local elections. Alasania, who garnered 19% of votes in the Tbilisi mayoral contest, stopped short of saying that it was a failure for his party and said on June 2 that although election result was not a success for his coalition, it created opportunity on which success could be built for 2012 parliamentary elections.

Some opposition figures described Alasania’s stance as “a simulation of success”.

Levan Gachechiladze, the leader of public movement Defend Georgia and an opposition presidential candidate in 2008 elections, said that Alasania should be more realistic in assessing the election results.

"Irakli Alasania has failed to consolidate the opposition; he was defeated in these elections… We should be realistic while assessing these [election results], but if we start assessing this through simulations, than I will deem Alasania and the entire Alliance for Georgia being part of Saakashvili’s simulated system," Gachechiladze told Maestro TV.

Alasania responded on June 10 by saying that he deemed Gachechiladze’s remarks as “insignificant”

"Unfortunately, Levan has also joined the list of those people, who see reasons of thier political failures everywhere except of themselves. I wish him success; his political assessments are totally insignificant for me and I think for the society too," he said.

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