Georgian Opposition Cries Foul Over By-Elections

Editors Note: Updated 8/9/05 to note Tina Khidasheli's resignation in the eighth paragraph.

A war of words is gathering steam after Georgia's Central Election Commission revoked the registration papers for one leading opposition group. The decision, coming on the heels of the commission's rejection of an opposition-sponsored referendum for direct mayoral elections, has fueled opposition claims that the government has little tolerance for political dissent. The government has dismissed the claims as groundless. Meanwhile, in one of the first attempts at coordinated opposition since the 2003 Rose Revolution, four Georgian opposition parties have announced plans to join forces for this fall's parliamentary by-elections.

On August 5, the Republican Party, a former member of the National Movement, announced that its registration papers had been revoked. In response, the party has announced that it plans to boycott the October 1 parliamentary by-election, a poll seen by some local observers as a key test for various political reforms introduced by President Mikheil Saakashvili.

The Central Election Commission, reformed in June, revoked the Republicans' registration after allegedly detecting mistakes in its registration form.

Speaking to reporters, Republican Party chairman David Usupashvili, a constitutional law expert, argued that the decision was designed to prevent the party's participation in the by-elections. In July, an election alliance was announced between the Republicans and three other opposition groups – the Labor, Conservative and New Rights Parties.

"It is clear that, ahead of the elections, the authorities are trying to get rid of their most dangerous opponent, the Georgian Republican Party," Imedi television quoted Usupashvili as saying. "It is obvious that, instead of preparing for an honest electoral struggle,the authorities are trying to drag the Republican Party into a struggle without rules."

Subsequent attempts to re-register have been "unsuccessful," Usupashvili said, because of flaws that the CEC claims still remain in the party's documents.

Particular Republican Party ire has been focused on the autonomous republic of Adjara, where support for the party runs strongest. The Adjaran Supreme Council, or legislature, recently passed a law that would bar members from standing in elections for the Georgian parliament. Usupashvili argued that the legislation was intended to target Republican Party activist Giorgi Masalkin, a member of the Adjaran Supreme Council.

Instead of focusing on this fall's by-elections, the Republicans will concentrate on nationwide local elections in 2006, Usupashvili said. Usupashvili's wife, Tina Khidasheli, former head of the influential Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, will run the local elections campaign. Upon assuming her new campaign role she submitted her resignation as board chair of the the Open Society Georgia Foundation. [EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of the New York-based Open Society Institute, which is also part of the Soros Foundations network.]

Responding on Rustavi-2 television, CEC Chairman Gia Kavtaradze, called the charges "groundless and rather incompetent." The Republican Party's registration had been revoked, he said, because it had failed to specify the responsibilities of its official representative. A similar problem had occurred with the Conservative Party, Kavtaradze said, but was quickly corrected. If the Republicans amend their registration, Kavtaradze stressed, the party "will have no difficulty registering as far as we are concerned."

Meanwhile, four opposition parties – the Conservative, Labor, New Rights and Freedom Parties -- announced plans on August 5 to hold primaries to select single candidates to run in the October elections. Conservative Party leader Koba Davitashvili stated that the primaries would give "the authorities and society an example of how democratic elections should be held." New Rights leader David Gamkrelidze added, however, that the agreement does not mean the creation of a single opposition bloc. Nominations for the primaries will be made on August 8, though a date for the vote has not yet been announced.

Georgia's opposition parties have shown increasing signs of unity of late. In mid-July, they took aim at a law passed by parliament that provides for election of the Tbilisi City Council through a "winner takes all" system and the indirect election of the city mayor by Council members.

On July 15, the CEC rejected an opposition-sponsored request to begin collecting signatures for a referendum on the direct election of Georgia's mayors. The opposition parties have called the decision "absurd," and claim that the CEC acts as an appendage of the presidential administration. The CEC was restructured earlier this year by a committee organized by former Presidential Administration Chief of Staff Gigi Ugulava, recently appointed mayor of Tbilisi. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In an interview with EurasiaNet, however, CEC Chairman Gia Kavtaradze argued that only legal considerations dictated the commission's decision. The referendum question did not meet Article 10 of "The Law of Georgia on Referendum," which stipulates that the name, surname and residence of each of the members of the sponsoring group be specified and that the question "be formulated . . . clearly and concretely," he said.

The question submitted for the referendum would ask voters: "Do you agree or not that mayors/district heads of all settlements in Georgia should be elected through a direct vote by the residents of these settlements?"

Kavtaradze said the application form lacked several addresses and criticized the question as not being clear and concrete. "The question must be put in a way that there is no possible vague answer," said Kavtaradze, "If I say no [to this referendum], what's the result? No mayor at all? No elections?"

Kavtaradze also took issue with asking voters who live in areas that already elect their own mayors to answer such a question. "[For example,] [w]e have no capital punishment in Georgia," he said, "So can you ask as a referendum question