EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Georgia's Opposition Agrees to Disagree

EURASIA INSIGHT

GEORGIA’S OPPOSITION AGREES TO DISAGREE
Nina Akhmeteli 6/16/08

Just over a week into parliament’s summer session, the Georgian opposition’s much-hyped unity against President Mikheil Saakashvili has unraveled.

As was anticipated by many local analysts, a boycott of parliament was the pivotal development that undid the opposition coalition. The United Opposition Movement -- comprising eight opposition political parties that backed second-place finisher Levan Gachechiladze in this year’s presidential polls -- had renounced 12 of the 17 parliamentary seats that it won, based on the proportional vote. Four members of the Labor Party, arguably one of the most hardcore of Georgia’s numerous opposition parties, have also given up its seats.

From the start, however, the boycott strategy faced problems, as not all of the coalition members went along with it. Five of the United Opposition seats will be taken, though the elected MPs have since pulled out of the coalition over the boycott decision. Two Labor Party seats will also be occupied. Meanwhile, the Republican Party has declared that its two candidates who won individual races and plan to take their seats are not members of the party. The party failed to secure any seats based on the proportional vote. At the same time, bitter squabbling erupted after a decision by the newcomer Christian Democratic Movement to take their six seats in parliament, and to enter into talks with the governing United National Movement for a Victorious Georgia.

With opposition leaders preoccupied with trading accusations of political treachery and ineptitude, the coalition appears to have no clear strategy on how to move forward. The previously much-touted idea of an "alternative parliament" has fallen by the wayside. Instead, one opposition leader says that the coalition of eight political parties will set up a "political center" to address various policy debates. "It won’t be an alternative parliament, but a center where the opposition parties along with our supporters will respond to all pressing problems," Zviad Dzidziguri, a senior member of the Conservative Party who has renounced his parliamentary seat, told EurasiaNet. "So, our political fight continues." He did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, the United National Movement is emphasizing the first results that have come from its "constructive dialogue" with two opposition parties, the Christian Democrats, which took 8.66 percent of the vote, and the tiny On Our Own Party, a former member of the United Opposition Movement.

After two days of talks, the National Movement announced that an agreement had been struck. Under the terms of the deal, negotiated by Parliamentary Speaker Davit Bakradze, the opposition will hold three out of potentially nine deputy parliamentary speaker posts. The National Movement also gave assurances that an opposition representative would hold the post of deputy chair on each of parliament’s committees. In separate comments, National Movement MP Pavle Kublashvili told reporters on June 13 that "several legislation drafts" are also in the works to "give the opposition other guarantees." He did not elaborate.

The governing party has also agreed to have one opposition MP sit on the Supreme Council of Justice, which oversees the court system, and on the National Regulatory Commission for Communications. Opposition input was invited for legislation that would enact unspecified law enforcement reforms and increase the transparency of the Chamber of Control, which monitors government spending. A proposal for the direct election of city mayors and regional governors was rejected, along with a proposal that the opposition play a role in naming Georgia’s general prosecutor and head of the Chamber of Control.

Christian Democratic Movement leader Giorgi Targamadze has asserted that the agreements provide an "absolute basis" for his party to start work in parliament. The party has not yet taken its seats.

But some local analysts see the National Movement’s offers to the opposition as a political "trick."

With the National Movement holding 119 of the new parliament’s 150 seats, a handful of opposition parliamentarians will be able to exert scant influence on legislation, argued pro-opposition political analyst Soso Tsiskarishvili. The ruling party’s overtures, he said, are akin to "letting 10 chickens be among 120 jackals."

With the opposition’s best-known figures now boycotting parliament, he added, little exists to correct that image.

Senior ruling party members have already labeled the opposition’s parliament boycott "the height of irresponsibility." In a wry aside, National Movement parliamentarian Givi Targamadze told reporters on June 13 that he supported the boycott decision since "the involvement of this type of politicians in the political process just does not make sense."

Hardcore Saakashvili opponents heaped scorn on the Christian Democrats for the party’s willingness to cooperate with the National Movement. "The new player, the Christian Democratic Movement, has helped the authorities and � suddenly appears constructive, and acceptable," fumed former Republican Party parliamentarian Levan Berdzenishvili. The Christian Democrats’ six parliamentarians, he asserted, "simply do not have the resources for running political debates within parliament."

However, while the Christian Democrats’ decision might have cast a cloud for some over their opposition status, voters may well soon consider them Georgia’s main opposition party, commented Davit Aprasidze, dean of the philosophy and social sciences faculty at Tbilisi’s Ilia Chavchavadze University.

"Even if today they are called �traitors,’ considering the short term memory of our society, in the long term they might be seen as the main opposition center only because they are in parliament and will be covered by media and seen frequently," he noted.

One senior Christian Democratic Movement member commented that taking seats in parliament should be as much a part of the opposition’s strategy as street protests.

While the party believes that the May 21 elections were rigged, "we haven’t promised to be the parliamentary majority or to overthrow the government, and we can’t deny the responsibility we have to our voters," said Magda Anikashvili.

Some analysts agree that the United Opposition Movement’s recurring pledges for radical change meant that there was no back-up option when they failed to triumph at the polls, according to the official election results. "The United Opposition chose to call for changing the government. It created high expectations among its supporters which it could not accomplish and for which it did not have the resources," said Aprasidze.

A muddled message about what a parliament boycott would bring for the opposition and its supporters only worsened matters, observed Strategic Research Center Executive Director Niko Melikadze. "The main issue is not whether they enter parliament or not, but why they decide to do what they do," said Melikadze, "It is not known � what will be their next step. It’s trying to play chess" by thinking only one move at a time, and not several moves ahead.

Editor�s Note: Nina Akhmeteli is a freelance reporter based in Tbilisi.

The Central Eurasia Project aims, through its website, meetings, papers, and grants, to foster a more informed debate about the social, political and economic developments of the Caucasus and Central Asia. It is a program of the Open Society Institute-New York. The Open Society Institute-New York is a private operating and grantmaking foundation that promotes the development of open societies around the world by supporting educational, social, and legal reform, and by encouraging alternative approaches to complex and controversial issues.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the position of the Open Society Institute and are the sole responsibility of the author or authors.