PM Appeals Alliance of Patriots Leader to Call Off Hunger Strike

PM Irakli Garibashvili has called on one of the leaders of Alliance Patriots, Irma Inashvili, who narrowly lost MP by-election in Sagarejo to ruling GD coalition candidate, to end hunger strike.

Inashvili and several members of the Alliance of Patriots party went on hunger strike outside government headquarters in Tbilisi on November 9, demanding change of electoral system.
  
Initially when they launched the hunger strike, protesters were demanding, among other issues, resignation of Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli and Minister of Environment Gigla Agulashvili – both are from the Republican Party, part of the GD ruling coalition. Alliance of Patriots accuse the two ministers of using administrative resources in the October 31 MP by-election in Sagarejo that gave advantage to GD candidate Tamar Khidasheli of the Republican Party.

Focus of demands later shifted more on calls for change of electoral system for the 2016 parliamentary elections – demand that is also pushed for by many other opposition parties.

GD’s Tamar Khidasheli of the Republican Party won MP by-election in Sagarejo single-mandate constituency, boycotted by most of the opposition parties, by a margin of just 559 votes over her closest rival Irma Inashvili.

One of Inashvili’s main complaints, among others, was that a special polling station, opened for army service members at the Mukhrovani military base, was used to manipulate poll results.

Inashvili filed complaint with the court, but lost the case and the Central Election Commission turned down on procedural grounds at a session on November 12 complaint in which Inashvili was seeking annulment of election results.

Georgia’s largest election monitoring group, International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), said that irregularities reported during October 31 MP by-elections did not affect final poll results.

ISFED, however, also noted that those irregularities showed the need to address number of issues in the legislation, especially ahead of the 2016 parliamentary elections, among them rules of setting up special polling precincts, and participation of high-ranking officials in the electoral campaign and other election-related processes.

In his written statement on November 12, PM Garibashvili, who is the leader of GD ruling coalition, said that Inashvili gave GD a “real” competition in the MP by-elections both in Sagarejo and Martvili on October 31.

“It is a fact that political environment has become open and competitive under the [GD] government. That is an additional factor that makes the ruling political force to work with double efforts… which eventually will contribute to development of the country,” the PM said.

“I think that the electoral legislation needs to be improved and work is already underway to address this issue. I hope that all the political forces will engage constructively in this process,” he said.

“I want to appeal members of the Alliance of Patriots to stop this radical form of protest and continue opposing on issues related to electoral legislation and election results in a calm environment within the legal framework,” the PM said.

President Giorgi Margvelashvili’s political adviser Pikria Chikhradze visited the protest venue to meet hunger strikers on November 11.

Defense Minister Tina Khidasheli, who is currently visiting Japan, reacted to Chikhradze’s visit with a Facebook post calling on President’s adviser to explain what was the purpose of her visit at the protest venue – whether it was for the purpose to show “solidarity” with the demands of protesters, it aimed “humanistic” purposes, or was an attempt to familiarize with the situation.

President’s adviser Pikria Chikhradze responded on November 12, that “it’s a bit difficult to comment seriously” on the Defense Minister’s remarks. She said the fact that the President is “the President for all” regardless of political affiliations did not need any explanation. “All the other questions [of Khidasheli] are not relevant,” Chikhradze said.

On November 12, heads of ISFED and Transparency International Georgia, Nino Lomjaria and Eka Gigauri, respectively, also met hunger strikers. 

The two watchdog groups said that along with other partner civil society organizations they plan to present amendments to the electoral code that would address those problems that have been revealed during the October 31 MP by-elections.

But they also stressed that regardless of whether these procedural problems are addressed or not in the legislation, the change of electoral system – scrapping of the majoritarian component of the electoral system – remains to be the “fundamental demand towards the authorities.”

Although the GD ruling coalition plans to reform the majoritarian component of the electoral system, it has no intention to scrap it for next year’s parliamentary elections and offers to replace this system after the 2016 elections.