Georgia: Parliamentary Speaker Withdraws from May Election

Parliamentary Speaker Nino Burjanadze, a leader of the 2003 Rose Revolution, shocked Georgia's political world with an April 21 announcement that she will not run for reelection in the upcoming May legislative elections. Burjanadze's apparent exit from the political stage comes amid heightened public distrust in the election process.

During a televised briefing at which she had been expected to announce the governing party's final list of candidates for the election, Burjanadze instead revealed that disagreement over the candidates had prompted her decision to leave. "[I]t was not possible to reach a consensus over the National Movement's party list. I think this is not a tragedy; it is not a pleasant fact, but it is not either a tragedy. It can happen in any democratic state," she said, according to an English-language translation of her remarks posted on the news bulletin service Civil Georgia.

Burjanadze, who has served as parliamentary chairperson since 2001, had been expected to head the National Movement's list of candidates. In recent weeks, though, Georgian print media have speculated openly about what her political future could hold. Failure to broker an agreement between the opposition and government following the contentious January 5 presidential vote is widely seen as having wounded her politically. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Burjanadze stressed that she has no plans to join the opposition. "[A] difference in positions does not mean [government] weakness and it does not mean a crack in [government] unity.