Opposition Tries to Gain Momentum

Four leading opposition parties – the New Rights, Labor, Conservative and Republican – announced on March 3 that they will unite in their efforts to confront the government’s policies in various fields. On the same day, parliamentarians from the Conservative and Republican parties initiated a “public monitoring group” which will probe into cases involving alleged wrongdoings by the officials.

Leaders of these four opposition parties met in the office of Labor Party on March 3 to discuss plans for cooperation. The opposition parties’ attempts to gain momentum come ahead of local self-governance elections scheduled for this autumn. But the opposition leaders say that these consultations will not necessarily result into a political union.

“The government’s policies triggered us to coordinate our efforts… Negotiations between the political parties with different political platforms does not mean a merger [of these parties], it just means cooperation and coordination of our policies over certain problematic issues,” Davit Usupashvili, leader of Republican Party, told Civil Georgia, on March 3.

Currently there are two issues on the opposition parties’ political agenda: government-imposed new regulations for outdoor market vendors and a scandal involving the links of top officials from the Interior Ministry to the Sandro Girgvliani murder case.

This first issue relates to a law which went into force on March 1 which requires vendors to use cash registers or pay a GEL 500 (USD 278) fine. The Finance Ministry claims that the law is necessary in order to register the revenues of these vendors and subject these revenues to tax inspection. But many sellers say that they can not afford to purchase the cash registers and are demanding that they pay fixed tax rates. This law was adopted by the Parliament in late December, 2005. Hundreds of sellers gathered outside the Parliament on February 28-March 1 at a rally, organized by the labor party, to protest the law. Conservative Party leaders also joined these protest rallies.

Many observers note that the opposition has much better ground to attack the authorities over the second issue, which is related to the murder of Sandro Girgvliani, an employee of the United Georgian Bank. The murder became very high-profile after a televised report indicated that several top-level officials from the Interior Ministry, as well as the wife of Vano Merabishvili, could have links to the case. On February 28, after Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili indicated that he does not plan to sack those officials who could have been linked to this case, the opposition parties accused Merabishvili of “covering up” the potential suspects and demanded his resignation.

During the meeting on March 3 the opposition leaders agreed to hold a protest rally outside the Parliament on March 9 and to focus on both of these issues. Opposition leaders say that these two problems, as well as “other problematic issues,” should not be overshadowed by each other.

“We are not going to focus only on the cash register issues. We will push forward other, more important, issues, including the investigation of the Sandro Girgvliani murder case,” MP Koba Davitashvili, leader of Conservative Party, said on March 3.

“We should not let the authorities divert public attention to the problem of cash registers alone. Each political party has its political agenda and is focusing on certain kinds of problems. The coordination of our activities and joint efforts will enable us to focus on more problems than just one party can,” Davit Usupashvili told Civil Georgia on March 3.

Also on March 3, the Democratic Front parliamentary faction, which unites MPs from the Conservative and Republican Parties, announced that they plan to establish what they called a “public monitoring group,” which will investigate the alleged wrongdoings of officials. A probe into the Girgvliani murder case will be a priority of the group, opposition MPs said.

MP Davit Zurabishvili, the Chairman of Democratic Front said, at a news conference that the establishment of this monitoring group “is also an attempt to fill the gap persisting in the [sphere of] investigative journalism.”

“We had to set up this kind of group because we do not trust the General Prosecutor’s Office or the Interior Ministry,” MP Zviad Dzidziguri of the Democratic Front said.

The government shows no signs of having plans to retreat over these two issues. President Saakashvili said on March 1 that cash registers should be installed in outdoor markets. He also made it clear that he does not plan to sack Interior Minister Merabishvili. “He is an especially good Minister,” Saakashvili told reporters.

This is the second case wherein President Saakashvili has had to defend Vano Merabishvili against the background of a call for his resignation by the opposition. Last July, the opposition parties demanded Merabishvili’s resignation after riot police dispersed protesters on Rustaveli avenue in Tbilisi. “What else do they [opposition parties] want?” was the President’s response.

The opposition admits that it will not be easy to force Merabishvili to resign, as he represents one of the key figures in the current balance of power in Saakashvili’s administration.

“Vano Merabishvili is not just a Minister… This is one of the strongest ‘power verticals’ in the country. Mainly, two influential groups are linked to Merabishvili’s [power base]: one led by [MP Davit] Kirkitadze known as ‘young wing’ of the [ruling] National Movement party and the other [group] involves [MP Giga] Bokeria, Gigi Ugulava [Mayor of Tbilisi], as well as [Kakha] Lomaia [the Minister of Education]. Both of these groups are influential because they are close to Merabishvili… So the resignation of Merabishvili will lead to collapse of this vertical, which was established over the past two yours,” MP Zurabishvili said in an interview with RFE/RL Georgian service on March 1.
 
The Opposition leaders agreed on March 3 to hold a protest rally outside the Parliament on March 9. It is expected that their demand that Merabishvili be dismissed will also be voiced during this rally.