Eyebrows Raised as NDP Joins Shevardnadze
Weak Opposition Group Bandwagons with the Government
In a sharp turn from its opposition stance the National-Democratic Party of Georgia (NDP) decided to join the pro-governmental election Alliance for New Georgia, chaired by President Shevardnadze. The decision was preceded by two days of confidential consultations with the State Minister Avtandil Jorbenadze.
The decision of the NDP comes as a surprise, as last year NDP allied with the leading opposition forces, such as the United Democrats, the National Movement and the New Rights, to sharply criticize the governmental policies. Last August, these parties set up a coordination council, which would have guided joint activities of the opposition forces.
Leader of the NDP Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia said that the only ideological reason of joining the pro-governmental alliance is Shevardnadze’s foreign policy.
“It was not an easy decision, because the government’s popularity rating is very low. But I would not have done this step, if it was unpromising. Our alliance is primarily forged by President Shevardnadze’s foreign policy,” Sarishvili-Chanturia said at the news briefing on April 11.
“I am not saying that everything is going well in the country. Furthermore, the current internal policy is unacceptable for us, but I believe that with joint efforts we will overcome the difficulties,” she said.
Leader of the NDP named disagreement among the opposition parties as another reason of joining pro-Presidential alliance. Sarishvili-Chanturia said that despite long consultations with the opposition parties, attempts of their unification failed, because of internal disputes.
“They still have to solve many disagreements among themselves before unification,” the NDP leader said.
The NDP, was actively engaged in the independence movement of late 1980s, enjoyed significant popularity in the middle of 1990s, but performed disastrously in the last parliamentary elections, as well as in local self-governance elections in 2002.
Observers and opponents of the pro-governmental alliance say NDP is a pure pragmatism. They say a party, which could not clear the 7% barrier in 1999 Parliamentary election and in hardly got 2% of votes in last year’s local self-governance elections, tries to bandwagon with Shevardnadze to have at least some chances of making it into the new parliament.
“We could not expect anything else from such a weak party. This was the best option for them,” David Berdzenishvili, one of the leaders of the opposition National Movement told Civil Georgia.
The opposition parties believe that by having NDP in their fold, the governmental-backed election alliance can at least claim certain credence from the former national movement that led country to independence in 1990s. But it is only a simple symbolic gesture. NDP will not significantly strengthen the new alliance and administrative-bureaucratic levers are to remain their main hope for success in the elections.
“[NDP decision] was unexpected and unclear to us. However, the only thing the Shevardnadze’s alliance would gain by joining the NDP, is that it will become a bit nobler,” Giorgi Baramidze, head of the opposition United Democrats Parliamentary faction told Civil Georgia.
“This [pro-governmental] union does not have a unifying idea. It is rather artificial entity, which hopes for success in the elections with help of bureaucracy of the government. Apparently this was quite acceptable for Sarishvili-Chanturia,” MP David Koguashvili of the New Rights told Civil Georgia.
With opposition factions understandably critical of NDP decision, it is clear that they do not see the power of the pro-Shevardnadze alliance grows by their new ally.
By Tea Gularidze, Civil Georgia