To be or not to be Georgian -- for billionaire opposition leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, that is the question. And, after months of suspense over Ivanishvili's bid to regain his Georgian citizenship, Georgia's Ministry of Justice yesterday had the answer.
Ivanishvili, who lost his citizenship not long after announcing plans to join Georgia's variety show of opposition politicians, is not eligible for naturalization, the ministry ruled. But it left the door open by saying he can give dual citizenship -- Ivanishvili is a French citizen -- a try.
Earlier, the ownership of such citizenship had been the official reason why Ivanishvili's Georgian citizenship was revoked. But looks like the government isn't thinking of that now.
Perhaps it's got the international community -- in particular, the US and NATO -- on its mind. At a March 21 Senate hearing, US ambassador-nominee Richard Norland called the October parliamentary vote a "litmus test" for Georgia's NATO accession.
Just back from a chat with NATO, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been eagerly inviting international observers to start their work (and the more the merrier), no doubt is mindful of that interest.
So, perhaps it was not a huge surprise when his ruling United National Movement Party declared today that it would vote for a proposed constitutional amendment that will allow a Georgian-born EU citizen, who has lived in Georgia for 10 years (read Ivanishvili), to run for parliament.
If passed, that would remove one obstacle to Ivanishvili attempting to realize his goal of becoming Georgia's prime minister, a post to be determined by which party holds the majority in parliament.
Whether or not the ruling party has thought matters through that far is unclear. At a press conference today that preceded the United National Movement's announcement, though, Ivanishvili did not specify his future citizenship plans.
Instead, he chose to poeticize. “Just as gracefully as spring has come, gracefully fall will come and I promise you the crop will be abundant,” he declared.
Abundant with controversy, we can guarantee.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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