Forming of New Ruling Coalition Sparks Number of Controversies
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| National Movement, United Democrats formed the ruling coalition on January 28. |
The National Movement, led by Mikheil Saakashvili, who received more than 96% of votes in January 4 presidential elections and the United Democrats, chaired by Zurab Zhvania, announced on January 28 about unification.
“There is no separate National Movement or the Democrats party any more. We are the one, single party, which will be a powerful and reliable foothold for the new President,” State Minister Zurab Zhvania said on January 28 at a presentation of the new party.
The name of the new party, as well as who will chair the coalition, is not known yet. “The coalition will hold a founding congress in nearest days and we will decide these and other details,” Zurab Zhvania said.
Nino Burjanadze, the Parliamentary Chairperson, who together with Mikheil Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania led the November bloodless revolution, was not attending the presentation of the coalition, as she decided to take a break and left for England for holidays.
Absence of Nino Burjanadze sparked speculations that the Parliamentary Chairperson intends to split with her allies. The new authorities’ decision to introduce constitutional changes, which reportedly would reduce the Parliament’s power, further increased these speculations. Nino Burjanadze said earlier that she does not “intend to be the Chairperson of the weak Parliament.”
“The constitutional changes, developed by the Justice Ministry, envisage weak parliament, which of course will trigger Burjanadze’s discontent. She has two ways – either to split with her allies, or to agree on this model. This will be known only after her return to Georgia,” Ia Antadze of Radio Liberty told Civil Georgia.
However, Zurab Zhvania dismissed any speculations regarding disagreement between the three leaders as “groundless.” He told the press conference on January 28 that Mikheil Saakashvili and Nino Burjanadze were informed in advance regarding the decision to unite two parties.
“We have consultations with Nino Burjanadze as well. We took this decision as far back as last November during the revolution. There is no threat of disagreement between us,” Zurab Zhvania said.
Political ally of the National Movement – the Republic Party did not participate in the presentation of the new coalition as well. The Republic Party and the National Movement were united in the election bloc during the November 2 parliamentary elections.
Davit Berdzenishvili, the leader of the Republic Party, explained that he will continue cooperation with the National Movement and will be in the election bloc with the new coalition during the March 28 parliamentary elections.
“We still remain the political partners for the National Movement, but if Zurab Zhvania does not want us to be with their bloc, we will think of going into opposition,” Davit Berdzenishvili told Civil Georgia.
However, as the political analysts say, it is not anticipated that the Republicans will split with the ruling coalition before the elections, as they have no chance of clearing 7% barrier, necessary for securing seats in the Parliament, independently.
Another controversy that was sparked with the formation of the powerful ruling coalition was the threat of emergence of a one-party legislative body without opposition to balance the Parliament.
The Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) recommended on January 28 the Georgian leadership “to reduce the threshold for representation applying to the ballots based on proportional lists from 7% to at least 5%.”
The PACE, as well as the Georgian opposition parties, is concerned that the reshaping of the Georgian political life, that took place after the November revolution, might lead to a disappearance of all parliamentary opposition after the March 28 elections.
“If the elections were to culminate in the sole representation in Parliament of the ruling coalition the Assembly might fear for the future of democratic pluralism in Georgia,” the PACE stated.