Leader of the Traditionalists Withdraws from the United Opposition

The Akhali Taoba; The Dilis Gazeti

The united parliamentary opposition and its coordinative council are about to collapse. Akaki Asatiani, leader of the faction Socialist, states that he is not intending to support the opposition’s initiative about boycotting local self-governance elections planned on November 4 and insists that it be delayed until spring 2002.

One of the reasons of his decision is that members of the opposition usually act according to their personal interests, Mr. Asatiani said.

According to the Akhali Taoba, the Citizens’ Union shares the idea of postponing elections but this does not mean that it is going to ally with the Traditionalists. The Dilis Gazeti has an opposite point of view. “It seems leader of the Traditionalists looks for a motive to weaken his relations with the opposition and get closer to the ruling power”, the newspaper assumes.

The press is unanimous about the idea that the Traditionalists remain an oppositional faction anyway but they do not want to collaborate with the coordinative council, which, according to Mr. Asatiani, looks like a football team unable to kick a goal.