Abashidze’s Party Fails to Secure Parliamentary Seats

First failure of Abashidze-backed Revival Union

With nearly all the votes counted it is become increasingly more apparent that Adjarian leader Aslan Abashidze’s Revival Union Party failed to clear the 7% threshold which would have secured that party at least a few seats in the Parliament. Two parties – President Saakashvili’s National Movement-Democrats and Rightist Opposition coalition will occupy all 150 seats in the legislative body under the proportional party-list system.

The Central Election Commission (CEC) reported late on March 30 that 1,486,810 votes had been counted from the approximately 1.5 million cast.

According to the results, the ruling National Movement-Democrats garnered more than 67% of the votes while the the Rightist Opposition coalition, which united the two businessmen-backed parties of the Industrialist and the New Rights gathered 7.6% of the vote.   Mr Abashidze’s Revival Union only received about 6.13% of the ballots.

The Labor Party, led by Shalva Natelashvili, who demands the cancellation of the election results, alleging widespread vote-rigging, took fourth place in the election by gaining around 5.8% of the vote.  The Freedom party received 4.19%, the NDP-Traditionalists, 2.5%, the Unity party, led by former Georgian soviet leader Jumber Patiashvili, gained only 2.4% of the total votes.

“Votes from 172 polling stations still remain uncounted. The results of the elections might change, as election results in those precincts where serious violations took place might be canceled. It may slightly affect the current standing of the parties,” Zurab Tchiaberashvili, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, told members at a press conference on March 29.

The results have already triggered demands from Abashidze’s opposition to hold early elections in the defiant Autonomous Republic that could potentially put an end to Adjarian leader’s decade-long, unilateral rule in the region.

“It was apparent even before the elections that the Revival Party would fail in the elections, because the people do not want to see Abashidze’s criminal regime in Adjara any more,” stated Tamaz Diasamidze, a member Our Adjara (a major opposition movement in the Autonomy) told Civil Georgia on March 29.

“We would push the issue of snap elections in Adjara in an effort to make Abashidze leave power through the election process,” Giga Bokeria of the National Movement-Democrats party said.
However, despite failure in nation-wide polls, the Revival Party managed to garner more votes in the Adjarian Autonomy than the ruling National Movement-Democrats.

According to the official results the Revival Party received 52.5% of Adjarian votes, while President Saakashvili’s party only 40.1%. The Rightist Opposition coalition, which also harshly criticized the Abashidze’s regime, received only 2.2% of the vote in the region.
 
“Earlier today [on March 29] the Revival Union had more than 8% at the expanse of votes received from the Adjarian Autonomy,” Zurab Tchiaberashvili, the Chairman of the Central Election Commission, said at a news briefing on March 30.

“However, after we had received election results from other parts of Georgia, the support for the Revival Party decreased. It shows that the Revival Party has extremely low support in other parts of Georgia,” he added.
 
In last November’s fraudulent elections the Revival Party received a reported 95% of the Adjarian votes. The elections were far from democratic during the March 28 polls as well, although observers did note slight progress in comparison to the November 2 elections.
Polls from election districts in Adjara are greatly disputed. CEC Chairman Zurab Tchiaberashvili told members at a press conference that the elections in the Khulo district of Adjara were marred by violations. “I do not rule out that the results in this district will be canceled,” Tchiaberashvili said.

International observers from the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament noted that continued intimidation and physical abuse against opposition supporters and journalists in Adjara cast a shadow over the overall progress in the election process in Georgia.
Political analysts suggest that tensions between Tbilisi and Batumi might re-escalate as a result of the parliamentary polls, which were far from desirable for Abashidze.

President Saakashvili gave one more warning to the defiant Adjarian leader on March 29 that Georgia will “not tolerate a criminal regime in one of the regions of the country.”

He categorically demanded from Abashidze to disarm paramilitary forces in Adjara – a provision agreed upon by both Saakashvili and Abashidze after talks were held in Batumi on March 18, which temporarily defused tensions before flaring up again after Saakashvili was barred from entering the region in mid-March.

“A big battle is awaiting us, a battle to disarm these bandits. I want to warn them that they should not expect any compromise from me. Either they give up their weapons immediately, or I will take steps accordingly,” Saakashvili told reporters.

Mikheil Saakashvili also said that he has already submitted to the Parliament a proposal to abolish Adjarian Autonomy’s Security Ministry, despite Abashidze’s protest.

“A new Parliament will pass it as soon as it convenes. This draft says that the Adjarian Security Ministry must be abolished and that formations under the ministry must be outlawed because they are made up of bandits,” Saakashvili added.