Georgia's Opposition Cashes in on Cash Register Protests

In what could prove a key test for President Mikheil Saakashvili's government, a wave of popular discontent over a new law that requires merchants to use cash registers has given Georgia's opposition parties a potential platform for tighter political coordination.

Hundreds of protestors from across the country gathered in front of parliament on March 9 in an opposition-led protest against a new law that requires most merchants and vendors to purchase cash registers. Despite rainy weather, angry shop owners and small traders closed Rustaveli Avenue, the city's main street, for a short time before police officers dispersed the crowds.

According to Tina Gogueliani, an analyst with the political studies unit at the International Center on Conflict & Negotiation in Tbilisi, opposition party leaders are making the most of a series of mistakes by the ruling party in what could prove a painful political lesson for the government. "There are a lot of people within society that are not satisfied with the internal policy of the government," she said in an interview with EurasiaNet. "I don't think the government expected such a strong reaction."

Although the crowd was mostly peaceful, emotions at the March 9 protest ran high. Naera Gzelishvili, a trader from Tbilisi, called the law "silly" and had few kind words for the government. "[T]hat law was passed by a person who is not paying attention to reality or the people," she said. "Do they not understand what the social situation is here? Seventy percent of the population lives off of small businesses. If you smother that, then why do you need a government at all? Ask anyone here today if they can pay a 10,000 lari (about $5,490) fine."

The government argues that the law, which required most merchants and vendors to start using cash registers to document their sales by March 1, will help improve tax collection and finance necessary reforms.

However, vendors claim the registers are too expensive and that the added costs will drive them out of business. They also accuse the authorities of failing to inform or educate them about the law until days before the March 1 deadline. According to the law, any merchant caught not using a cash register can be fined 500 lari ($273) for the first offence; subsequent violations carry even heavier fees, from between 5,000 to 10,000 lari (about $2,745 to $5,490).

Opposition members put turnout at the protest at 3,000, far shy of the 15,000 mark promised, while police estimated 800 participants. The demonstration appeared, nonetheless, to reflect growing criticism of the cash register law. The first protest against the law, on February 28, drew far fewer activists, and lasted only a few hours.

According to Tbilisi trader Gzelishvili, the opposition's decision to support the merchants could have political benefits for them during local elections planned for this autumn. "If the opposition will help me solve this problem ... of course I will vote for them in the next election because they helped me," she said. "Everyone will do the same."

Gogueliani states that the opposition protests could serve as a political coming-of-age for Georgia. "[The ruling party] always believed that all of society supported them and now they face serious dissatisfaction," she said. In any country, she continued, "[i]t is not good that there is only one ruling party and it is possible for them to do anything they want. They have to be controlled somehow . . ."

Opposition members of the Conservative, Labor, Republican and New Rights Parties have pledged to coordinate their actions in response to the cash register policy and ongoing investigations into the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani, a crime for which four interior ministry officials have been arrested. [For more details, see the EurasiaNet archive.]

The government, however, has shown little inclination to debate the cash register issue with the opposition. "Every person who is in difficulty and trades in the market has my support, of course," President Saakashvili commented after the March 1 protest against the cash registers, Imedi television reported. "However, when politicians begin building a career at the bazaar, these politicians will remain market politicians. There is no other name for them."

In a brief meeting televised live by Rustavi-2 on Thursday night, Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli met with four opposition MPs from the Democratic Front faction, including Conservative Party leader Koba Davitashvili, who had demanded a meeting about the cash register law. The group had earlier threatened to launch a hunger strike in the prime minister's reception area if denied a meeting with Noghaideli.

No common ground was found between the two sides, however. "I do not see much point in continuing the dialogue because all you wanted and still want is to declare your views at a time when decisions have already been made. These decisions will be implemented," Noghaideli said in reference to the cash register law. The "main purpose" of the Tbilisi street protests was "tax evasion," he claimed, and would make no difference to the government. "No one will be able to start unrest in this country because this country has a united government that acts according to a clear plan."

Meanwhile, the government appears to be working on damage control. While parliament voted down an opposition call to delay implementation of the cash register law, Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze urged Georgians on March 6 not to turn the issue into a "crisis" and pledged support from the government so that merchants will not suffer from the new requirements.

However, protestors on Thursday remained unconvinced. Lali Peikrishvili, a vendor at the Lilo market outside of Tbilisi, noted that customers as well as merchants will be hit by the new legislation since now businesses will be forced to raise prices to cover the new costs. "Everything after that will be expensive," she said, adding that higher prices will mean less business as well.

Gzelishvili also thought it was too little, too late. "No one from the government has come or explained anything," she said. "Already two weeks this awful process has continued and not one official has appeared on television to explain anything to us."

But that sense of frustration does not necessarily extend to Saakashvili, protestors said. "We chose Saakashvili and we love our president very much, but I think that the truth is not reaching him," commented Siuri Kezeliashvili, another trader at the Lilo market.