Saakashvili Calls for Dialogue as Elections Loom

Internal political dissension is damaging Georgian hopes of attaining a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) this April, President Saakashvili told the opposition on the fifth day of its hunger strike.

In a pre-recorded message from Brussels aired on Georgian TV stations on March 13, Saakashvili also warned the opposition that with time running out the ruling party would have to unilaterally decide on outstanding issues related with the parliamentary elections this May, if the opposition refused to resume dialogue in the next couple of weeks.

“Any type of destabilization hinders the strengthening of Georgia’s position and its aspiration towards Euro-Atlantic structures and to the resolution of key issues,” he said.

President Saakashvili is in Brussels ahead of NATO summit on April 2-4 in which a decision on Georgia’s MAP is expected to be made.

Among other election-related issues, the president stressed the need for immediate cross-party agreement on the composition of a new Central Election Commission (CEC).

“There are many shortcoming and joint decisions are needed to settle them,” he said. “We still have time for that. But if these issues are not resolved within two or three weeks, they will be resolved by one political group; but that is undesirable. We need to cooperate; we have no way other than to move together. We should constantly engage in negotiations and sit at the negotiations table.”

Saakashvili said consensus was difficult to achieve because of what he called “serious problems and differences” among the various opposition groups.

“The parliamentary majority has compromised on many issues, with compromises on issues we could hardly have imagined a few months ago. And this [approach] is correct; you should compromise to achieve political agreement in the country. But the [opposition] demands have been changing constantly and new ones have been emerging,” he said.

He then suggested he would give up some presidential powers in favor of Parliament “as soon as we have final agreement on the election system.” “I want Parliament to control the government’s activities on a daily basis,” he said. He did not elaborate.

Saakashvili also said that it was in his interests to have “broad political representation” in the new parliament.

He reiterated his support for the recent controversial constitutional amendments on electing 75 majoritarian lawmakers in the new 150-member parliament and said this system “will promote political stability.”

“Directly electing a lawmaker from each region by the people and having half of the parliament filled by such lawmakers will strengthen the Georgian legislative body,” he said. “When half of the parliament is composed this way, a lawmaker becomes dependent not on the president or on the party that nominated him, but on voters, their problems, concerns and demands.”

The number of majoritarian MPs elected in single-mandate constituencies in the new parliament will increase from 50 to 75, according to the amendment, and the number elected through the proportional party-list system will decrease from 100 to 75. The amendment is the source of major contention between the authorities and the opposition, with the former claiming it damages their chances in the forthcoming elections.