Opposition in Government’s Backyard

Visit of Nino Burjanadze, the parliamentary chairperson and the leader of opposition election bloc the Burjanadze-Democrats, in Kvemo Kartli region on September 24, revealed that the opposition stance towards the authorities has increased in the region, predominately populated by the ethnic Azerbaijanis.

Kvemo Kartli region in southern Georgia, governed by the Shevardnadze’s loyalist Levan Mamaladze for past nine years, was a foothold for the authorities during the elections. However, impoverished residents of the region seem to be less loyal towards the pro-government election bloc now than it was during the previous elections.

“I will participate in the elections by all means. I hope that the situation will change for better after the parliamentary elections. I do not know so far whom I will vote for, but I am sure that I will not vote for the present authorities. I have a reason for it. Although I work, it is impossible to live under such conditions,” resident of the Bolnisi Ahmed Agaryan told Civil Georgia.

Like in other regions of Georgia, repayment of the pension and salary backlog and improvement of social conditions overshadow other problems of the local population. Ethnic Georgians living in Kvemo Kartli say that in the previous years the authorities tried “to please ethnic Azerbaijanis” in order to secure their support in the elections, and very often neglected the ethnic Georgians’ interests.

“Most residents here [Bolnisi district of Kvemo Kartli region] are the Azerbaijanis. The local authorities used them as the basic foothold. However, situation has changed a little bit now. Non-Georgian residents already started to protest against the authorities, demanding better living conditions,” Manana Guledani, ethnic Georgian living in Bolnisi, told Civil Georgia.

Recently several protest rallies, unusual for this region, were held in Kvemo Kartli by the ethnic Azerbaijanis, demanding fair distribution of land. They accused former governor of the region Levan Mamaladze in misappropriating land.

Last week Levan Mamaladze resigned from the governor’s post, as he intends to run for MP in the Bolnisi constituency. The Burjanadze-Democrats also nominated its candidacy for the MP in the same constituency. During the visit in Bolnisi Nino Burjanadze called on the local population to vote for Koba Dvalishvili.

Nino Burjanadze also requested the local residents to show a high turnout during the November 2 parliamentary elections. The locals have little hope for the fair elections. Kvemo Kartli region was notorious with numerous violations reported by the observers during the previous elections.

“The only thing I ask you is to take active part in the parliamentary elections and express your opinion to avoid ballot rigging by the authorities,” Nino Burjanadze said at the meeting in Bolnisi.

Levan Mamaladze of presidential-backed election bloc and Koba Dvalishvili of the Burjanadze-Democrats will be also rivaled by Kamal Muradkhanov of another opposition party National Movement.

Disagreement between the opposition parties and failure to nominate joint candidate in Bolnisi would definitely benefit the pro-presidential bloc.