Eurasia Insight:
GEORGIAN OPPOSITION BOYCOTTS PARLIAMENT
Molly Corso: 4/11/06

Georgian opposition parties are boycotting parliament in a gamble to boost their ratings and influence in national politics. While members of the ruling party, the National Movement, have condemned the move as “unrealistic,” some political analysts believe the struggling opposition may have found a chance for greater popular support.

In a sign of unusual solidarity, four parties from the normally fractured opposition have joined forces to take part in the boycott, which was announced on April 7. The New Rights, Industrialists and Democratic Front (uniting MPs from the Republican and Conservative Parties) presented a list of demands on April 10 to parliament and President Mikheil Saakashvili. The parliamentarians are calling for the resignation of Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, the investigation of alleged covert special forces used by the interior ministry, a complete reorganization of the ministry, and direct elections for mayors and regional governors.

While members of the National Movement, including Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze, have admonished the opposition for using a ‘language of ultimatums,’ opposition leaders claim the ruling party has left them with no alternative. “They only know how to talk, not listen,” Conservative Party parliamentarian Kakha Kukava told EurasiaNet on April 7.

The boycott is not the opposition’s first attempt to cut into the National Movement’s grip on parliament and the legislative process. In March, opposition parties staged massive demonstrations in Tbilisi against a law that requires all vendors to use cash registers. Additional protests over the interior ministry’s investigation into the murder of banker Sandro Girgvliani resulted in the arrest of several senior ministry officials linked with the case. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

However, the opposition’s popularity ratings have improved little as a result; protestors marched against the cash register law, but few spoke out against President Saakashvili’s administration itself. Meanwhile, Girgvliani’s family has distanced itself from opposition efforts to champion their cause.

According to a poll taken by the International Republican Institute last fall, Georgian voters take issue with the opposition’s lack of unity. Although the boycott – as well as the March protests – created the appearance of unity among Georgia’s best known opposition parties, even now cracks are appearing.

Kukava maintains that the opposition boycott is linked to the parliamentary majority’s March 31 decision to dismiss Republican Party MP Valery Gelashvili for maintaining business interests while in parliament. Gelashvili was stripped of his MP status after members of the ruling party accused him of masterminding an arson plot to improve his business. According to Kukava, this week the opposition will publish a list of MPs who are also businesspeople – in violation of the law – to respond to Gelashvili’s dismissal.

However, Koka Guntsadze, an MP from the New Rights opposition party, another boycott participant, denied that the opposition has any plans to go after business interests in the parliament – and stressed there is nothing about that in the boycott declaration itself.

Meanwhile, members of the National Movement have already dismissed the opposition’s demands and accusations. Merabishvili has refused to resign. Burjanadze, while calling for dialogue Monday, gave no indication of making possible compromises.

“It is absolutely natural when the minority puts forward its position. However, decisions are made by the majority,” Burjanadze was televised telling parliament.

Guntsadze maintains that the opposition’s demands come from ordinary Georgians. “This was not decided only based on our interests,” he said in a telephone interview Monday. “The demands came from society and they [the majority] will have to compromise with society.”

Kukava, a member of the Democratic Front and one of the authors of the declaration, also dismissed allegations that the boycott is an ineffective tool. “The ruling party often accuses us of having criminal ties in Moscow,” he said. “Let society see what the ‘criminal opposition’ wants: fair elections and the arrest of Sandro Girgvliani’s murderer.”

One observer, however, argues that Georgia’s opposition, weakened after the 2003 Rose Revolution that brought the National Movement to power, has finally found a platform that society supports. “They are demanding things that are popular in the society,” commented Malkhaz Matsaberidze, a professor of political science at Tbilisi State University, noting that the boycott has already had “a resonance” with Georgians.

However, the National Movement has downplayed the boycott and its potential to boost national support for the opposition. In her statements to parliament on Monday, Burjanadze lambasted the opposition for refusing to participate in “constructive dialogue.” She noted that the opposition is missing a chance to make its position known on many important topics before parliament.

Kukava, however, maintains that the opposition’s views are not given attention even when opposition deputies are in parliament. “They do not pay attention to us even when we have strong legal arguments,” he said, in reference to majoritarian MPs. “I do not believe our absence will make a difference.”

Matsaberidze disagrees, and argues that the opposition’s absence could be much more powerful than their participation in the legislative process. “For the National Movement, the boycott is not good,” he said. “If the opposition does not participate in parliament, it shows that there is something wrong and things are not happening according to democratic principles.”

In the end, Georgian voters must decide that question for themselves, noted Roger Hallhag, head of the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance’s political party program.“The voters must judge that they are doing it [the boycott] for the right reasons,” he said. “Just doing it for attention or because they lost an election will not help.”

Editor’s Note: Molly Corso is a freelance reporter and photojournalist based in Tbilisi.