Opposition Hunger Strike Begins

Three lawmakers and two other opposition politicians went on hunger strike on March 9 outside Parliament and vowed to continue it unless their demands are met.

MP Zviad Dzidziguri of the Conservative Party told several thousand protesters at a rally outside Parliament that his and four other hunger strikers’ demands were: repeat presidential elections; conditions conducive for free and fair parliamentary elections and the release of all those arrested in connection with the November 7 events. Eight have been released so far, while others remain in jail, according to the opposition.

The other hunger strikers are: MP Gia Tortladze of the Movement for United Georgia (set up by ex-Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili); MP Bidzina Gujabidze of the Conservative Party; Koba Davitashvili of the Party of People and Irakli Melashvili of the National Forum – all part of the eight-party opposition coalition.

The opposition coalition resumed protests on Sunday and vowed to continue them unless their demands are met. The New Rights Party has joined the rally. Gia Maisashvili, the leader of the small Party of Future and an underdog presidential candidate in the January 5 polls, has also joined the protests.

Republican Party leaders did not participate in the March 9 protest rally. The party said on March 9 that it agreed with the demands outlined in the opposition’s January 29 memorandum, but said the hunger strike and demands for a repeat presidential election were “politically inappropriate.”

“In the existing political situation we deem it politically inappropriate to launch a hunger strike and to demand repeat presidential elections, as parliamentary elections – which were declared [earlier by the opposition] as a run-off of the [January 5] presidential polls are expected in just two months,” Davit Usupashvili, the leader of the Republican Party, said at a news conference on March 9.

The number of protesters outside Parliament on Sunday was far less than at previous opposition protest rallies. Sunday’s rally dispersed in the evening, but the hunger strikers remained.

With Parliament due to discuss with its second hearing a controversial proposal on electing 75 majoritarian MPs on March 11, opposition leaders called upon supporters to gather outside the parliament to protest the proposal. 

Ruling party leaders have suggested recently that the real reason for the opposition protests was to undermine the proposal.

“A new November is starting today,” MP Levan Gachechiladze, the coalition leader, told several thousand supporters at the beginning of the rally. “We will not stop until we have achieved our goal and our goal is to have free and fair parliamentary elections.”

He called on supporters to join the rally and said “a large-scale protest rally” was needed to make the authorities compromise. He said that he had been due to go to the Baltic states on March 10-15, but he had canceled the trip “because I have to stand here, where my people stands.” “I want to apologize to the ambassadors of the Baltic states [in Georgia], because they did everything to organize my visit,” he said.
 
Gia Tortladze of the Movement for United Georgia Party, part of the eight-party coalition, focused in his address on the [arliamentary hearing on the majoritarian MPs. He told supporters that because Parliament was due to discuss the matter on March 11, “we need an especially large scale protest rally on March 11.” 

Koba Davitashvili, the leader of Party of People, also part of the coalition, said that “illegitimate President” Saakashvili’s call for cross-party unity in the face of Russia’s decision to lift sanctions on Abkhazia was just a PR stunt.

“We condemn the outrageous Russian move. This outrageous decision, however, was encouraged by the Georgian authorities’ irresponsible policy, as it still refuses to withdraw from the CIS or seek the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” he said.

Davitashvili also said that the fact that the five Abkhaz constituencies were not included in the parliamentary proposal on electing majoritarian MPs was a step against Georgia’s territorial integrity. “First, annul this rule [on majoritarian MPs]; then withdraw from the CIS and seek the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers, and then ask us to cooperate,” Davitashvili said.

MP Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the New Rights Party, told the rally: “Our party has always been in favor of dialogue [with the authorities], but I have to admit that Saakashvili, Burjanadze and the entire government have been blinded by a desire to retain power. We have no way other than peaceful protest rallies, and so we favour the demands put forth by the National Council [the governing body of the eight-party coalition].”

He acknowledged that many within the opposition wanted a more radical approach to what he called the fraudulent January 5 presidential election. “But please believe me that thanks to the opposition and the National Council in particular, it was possible to prevent developments similar to those that happened in Yerevan,” MP Gamkrelidze said.

“Saakashvili and Burjanadze have judged that the opposition protest has lost momentum and they think they can again steal the elections to remain in power. But we say: No, we will not let it happen. We should stand here until we have free and fair parliamentary elections,” Gamkrelidze added.