Georgia: No Breakthrough in Saakashvili-Opposition Talks

After a month of street demonstrations during which protesters have agitated for President Mikheil Saakashvili's resignation, the Georgian leader and opposition envoys sat down for talks on May 11. The discussions did not appear to resolve any of the issues dividing the two sides.

The opposition was represented by Levan Gachechiladze, a former presidential candidate; Irakli Alasania, leader of the Alliance for Georgia coalition; Salome Zourabishvili, leader of the Georgia's Way Party; and Kakha Shartava, leader of the National Forum.

Aside from Saakashvili, the government's side included Parliamentary Chairperson Davit Bakradze, parliamentary majority leader Petre Tsiskarishvili, parliamentarian Giorgi Gabashvili and Minister for Corrections and Legal Assistance Dimitri Shashkin.

"He thinks that everything is very good, and we think that everything is very bad. And that's the result of the meeting," Gachechiladze told reporters afterwards. The talks lasted about 2 ½ hours.

Irakli Alasania, Georgia's former ambassador to the United Nations, indicated that additional talks were likely. "We could not hope to resolve all these issues on the first meeting," Alasania said. "I think the continuation of the dialogue is very important." No concrete plans exist, however, for another meeting with the president, he said. The opposition on May 12 plans to release details about its next steps.

In a televised speech after the meeting, President Saakashvili called the conversation a victory for Georgian democracy. He said that he had offered the opposition chairmanship of a committee on constitutional reforms and "various responsible positions" within the government. Equal representation on the board of Georgian Public Television and a freeze on unspecified criminal investigations launched since the protests began on April 9 were also proposed.

"[O]ur message to both the radical and constructive opposition was and always will be a proposal of dialogue, an insistence on harmonious relations and an open, civilized discussion because the '90s have shown what the result of radicalization ... can be," he said, in reference to Georgia's civil war of the early 1990s.

Many in Tbilisi earlier hailed the meeting as a potential way to defuse political tensions, but some experts believed that the outlook for reconciliation remains bleak. "The opposition cannot just drop their main demand, the resignation of Saakashvili," independent analyst Archil Gegeshidze told Rustavi-2 television. Given that Saakashvili will not give in to the opposition's pressure and resign, the meeting is unlikely to bring change, Gegeshidze said.