CEC Refuses to Hold Referendum Over Cabinet of Ministers

The Central Election Commission rejected the Traditionalists opposition party’s appeal to hold the referendum on November 2 over introduction of the Cabinet of Ministers.

The Traditionalists, which has recently joined the Burjanadze-Democrats election bloc, proposed to hold a referendum with the question: “Do you agree to introduce the Cabinet of Ministers? The Prime-Minister should not be a former President.”

“The reason of CEC’s refusal was very strange. The CEC claims that the formulation of the question violates the human rights, because each citizen of Georgia can become a Prime-Minister, even a former President. But we insisted on this formulation because we do not want to see Shevardnadze in politics after he steps down in 2005,” Akaki Asatiani, leader of the Traditionalists party said on September 28.

The Traditionalists intend to appeal a court against the CEC ruling. In case the court rules positively on the appeal, the Traditionalists will start to collect at least 200,000 signatures of the Georgian citizens, necessary for holding referendum.