Authorities Say Plan ‘Serious Institutional Reforms’

• Bakradze tells opposition to take decision in coming days;
• CDM said it would be on board with its constitutional reform proposals;

Davit Bakradze, the parliamentary chairman, said on May 1, that the authorities planned to launch “serious institutional reforms” and called the opposition to get on board.

He said the opposition parties, behind the ongoing protests, should give up the language of ultimatum and decide in coming days whether they wanted or not to be part of this process of planned reforms.

“In the nearest future, in coming days we will start very serious institutional and political reforms in the country together with the part of the opposition, which is willing to be part of this process of serious reforms,” Bakradze told journalists before a meeting with a group of Georgian scientists.

“So if the leaders of radical opposition really want the dialogue and not just use of this word I call on them to decide in coming days whether they want or not to participate in democratic and institutional reforms so important for the country,” Bakradze said.
 
Bakradze also said that those opposition parties, which were organizers of the ongoing protests, were still speaking on the language of ultimatums, demanding President Saakashvili’s resignation, which he said was not helpful.

“It is positive that the word ‘dialogue’ has emerged in the vocabulary of the opposition recently, but it is really regrettable that an ultimatum still remains behind that word, which in fact means that it is not at all an offer for a genuine dialogue,” Bakradze said.

Gigi Tsereteli, a vice-speaker of the parliament from the ruling party, said that “distribution of powers between the branches of government; election code; direct election of Tbilisi mayor and other outstanding issues” would be on the agenda.

These issues have been on the authorities’ agenda of proposed talks with the opposition even before the launch of street rallies on April 9, which was rejected by the opposition parties, which are organizing ongoing protests.

Officials from the Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM), a leading party in the parliamentary minority group, say they are ready for talks and would be on board with their agenda, involving discussions on constitutional reform and switching to the presidential system to the parliamentary one.

“Our proposal is to hold a referendum after the new constitution is drafted,” MP Levan Vepkhvadze, a vice-speaker of the parliament from the Christian-Democratic Movement, told Civil.Ge on May 1.

“In case of endorsement of the new constitution at the referendum parliamentary elections should be held after which the newly elected parliament will elect the president. This entire process may last till spring, 2010,” he said.

MP Vepkhvadze, however, also said that his party had not yet received any formal invitation or proposal by the authorities on possible dialogue or of its format.

CDM was engaged in talks with the authorities started shortly before the launch of the protest rallies. Dimitri Shashkin, the minister for prison system and probation, who was tasked by the President to lead talks with the opposition, was engaged in the process, which was snubbed by most of the opposition parties.