Opposition announces two-person ticket for Jan. 5, pledges to turn country into parliamentary republic
By Winston Featherly and Eter Tsotniashvili
Tuesday, November 13
The opposition coalition named independent MP Levan Gachechiladze as their joint candidate for the January 5 presidential election.
If he won, they said at the Monday press conference, he would be a placeholder while the new government transforms the country into a parliamentary republic.
“[Gachechiladze] is the ideal candidate because he is very well-known, he is a candidate that is very much supported by the love of his compatriots [and] he is a candidate that doesn’t have any political ambitions,” said ex-foreign minister Salome Zourabichvili, a coalition member and leader of Georgia’s Way.
Zourabichvili, the coalition’s pick for prime minister, would helm a “transitional team” as Georgia rewrites its constitution.
“I am probably the best-suited candidate to be next in line,” she continued, “because I will help all I can…with my contacts, with the international contacts that I have.”
Zourabichvili had previously tried to run for president, but the former French career diplomat was ruled ineligible for not being native-born.
Gachechiladze, founder of the Georgian Wine and Spirits company, has been an independent MP since leaving the political party he helped start, the New Rights.
The announcement is an about-face from coalition leaders’ stance on Sunday, when they insisted they would not name a candidate or begin campaigning until the state of emergency and media clampdown, including the closure of Imedi TV, is lifted.
At the Monday press conference, coalition member Zviad Dzidziguri said they learned the government would file suit against Imedi TV to keep the network, which suffered extensive equipment damage in a raid on November 7, off the air. Without Imedi, he said, a fair election campaign cannot be held.
The government says Imedi TV was broadcasting direct calls for the violent overthrow of the state the day it was shut down.
The snap presidential election, announced a day after November 7’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Tbilisi and the subsequent imposition of emergency rule, offers President Mikheil Saakashvili an opportunity to move past the crisis by winning another five-year term.
While the once overwhelmingly supported president has seen his popularity slip, he remains the largest figure in Georgian politics.
The opposition coalition has chosen to avoid a head-to-head presidential campaign, instead transforming the election into a referendum on the role Georgia’s president should have.
The coalition’s ticket would not have any platform besides turning the country into a parliamentary republic, Zourabichvili explained. Their first objective will be to get rid of President Mikheil Saakashvili, she said, and then to get rid of the role of president as it exists today.
Also on January 5, Georgian will vote on a non-binding referendum on whether parliamentary elections should be moved forward to April, when they were scheduled for before controversial constitutional changes last year.
Labor Party secretary general Soso Shatberashvili, meanwhile, announced earlier on Monday that Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili will also run for president.
The Labor Party was previously part of the opposition coalition, which had promised to back a joint candidate.
“The council of the Labor Party unanimously decided to nominate Shalva Natelashvili as a candidate for the presidential elections,” Labor secretary general Soso Shatberashvili told news media.
Shatberashvili refused to make any further comments, promising that Natelashvili himself will make a statement to Georgia and the press.
The nomination marked the first major fissure in the opposition coalition, now down to nine parties as Labor leaves the flock. The opposition leaders remaining in the coalition bid him good riddance at their Monday press conference.
“[Leaving the coalition] will only damage Natelashvili,” coalition member Koba Davitashvili said. “We, however, will not lose anything.”
Natelashvili’s whereabouts have been unknown since the breakup of the anti-government rally on November 7. That day, the Interior Ministry released a tapped phone conversation from June 2006 in which Natelashvili spoke with alleged Russian intelligence officer Vladimir Sokolov.
Natelashvili told Sokolov about a visit to Tbilisi from billionaire George Soros, a key backer of the 2003 Rose Revolution. Other taped evidence the Interior Ministry released show Natelashvili meeting with Sokolov and another alleged Russian intelligence officer at his party’s head offices in April 2005.
The Prosecutor General’s Office opened a case against Natelashvili on charges of espionage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, while Natelashvili reportedly sought political asylum abroad.
On November 10, however, authorities dropped criminal charges against Natelashvili while the president promised that he would be free to run in the presidential election.
The Labor Party says Natelashvili never left Georgia; he is in Tbilisi now, party officials said, recovering from the aftereffects of the tear gas used to breakup the rally.
Also contesting Saakashvili for the presidency are Imedi TV founder Badri Patarkatsishvili, New Rights leader Davit Gamkrelidze, and Government of the Future leader Gia Maisashvili.
If he won, they said at the Monday press conference, he would be a placeholder while the new government transforms the country into a parliamentary republic.
“[Gachechiladze] is the ideal candidate because he is very well-known, he is a candidate that is very much supported by the love of his compatriots [and] he is a candidate that doesn’t have any political ambitions,” said ex-foreign minister Salome Zourabichvili, a coalition member and leader of Georgia’s Way.
Zourabichvili, the coalition’s pick for prime minister, would helm a “transitional team” as Georgia rewrites its constitution.
“I am probably the best-suited candidate to be next in line,” she continued, “because I will help all I can…with my contacts, with the international contacts that I have.”
Zourabichvili had previously tried to run for president, but the former French career diplomat was ruled ineligible for not being native-born.
Gachechiladze, founder of the Georgian Wine and Spirits company, has been an independent MP since leaving the political party he helped start, the New Rights.
The announcement is an about-face from coalition leaders’ stance on Sunday, when they insisted they would not name a candidate or begin campaigning until the state of emergency and media clampdown, including the closure of Imedi TV, is lifted.
At the Monday press conference, coalition member Zviad Dzidziguri said they learned the government would file suit against Imedi TV to keep the network, which suffered extensive equipment damage in a raid on November 7, off the air. Without Imedi, he said, a fair election campaign cannot be held.
The government says Imedi TV was broadcasting direct calls for the violent overthrow of the state the day it was shut down.
The snap presidential election, announced a day after November 7’s violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Tbilisi and the subsequent imposition of emergency rule, offers President Mikheil Saakashvili an opportunity to move past the crisis by winning another five-year term.
While the once overwhelmingly supported president has seen his popularity slip, he remains the largest figure in Georgian politics.
The opposition coalition has chosen to avoid a head-to-head presidential campaign, instead transforming the election into a referendum on the role Georgia’s president should have.
The coalition’s ticket would not have any platform besides turning the country into a parliamentary republic, Zourabichvili explained. Their first objective will be to get rid of President Mikheil Saakashvili, she said, and then to get rid of the role of president as it exists today.
Also on January 5, Georgian will vote on a non-binding referendum on whether parliamentary elections should be moved forward to April, when they were scheduled for before controversial constitutional changes last year.
Labor Party secretary general Soso Shatberashvili, meanwhile, announced earlier on Monday that Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili will also run for president.
The Labor Party was previously part of the opposition coalition, which had promised to back a joint candidate.
“The council of the Labor Party unanimously decided to nominate Shalva Natelashvili as a candidate for the presidential elections,” Labor secretary general Soso Shatberashvili told news media.
Shatberashvili refused to make any further comments, promising that Natelashvili himself will make a statement to Georgia and the press.
The nomination marked the first major fissure in the opposition coalition, now down to nine parties as Labor leaves the flock. The opposition leaders remaining in the coalition bid him good riddance at their Monday press conference.
“[Leaving the coalition] will only damage Natelashvili,” coalition member Koba Davitashvili said. “We, however, will not lose anything.”
Natelashvili’s whereabouts have been unknown since the breakup of the anti-government rally on November 7. That day, the Interior Ministry released a tapped phone conversation from June 2006 in which Natelashvili spoke with alleged Russian intelligence officer Vladimir Sokolov.
Natelashvili told Sokolov about a visit to Tbilisi from billionaire George Soros, a key backer of the 2003 Rose Revolution. Other taped evidence the Interior Ministry released show Natelashvili meeting with Sokolov and another alleged Russian intelligence officer at his party’s head offices in April 2005.
The Prosecutor General’s Office opened a case against Natelashvili on charges of espionage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, while Natelashvili reportedly sought political asylum abroad.
On November 10, however, authorities dropped criminal charges against Natelashvili while the president promised that he would be free to run in the presidential election.
The Labor Party says Natelashvili never left Georgia; he is in Tbilisi now, party officials said, recovering from the aftereffects of the tear gas used to breakup the rally.
Also contesting Saakashvili for the presidency are Imedi TV founder Badri Patarkatsishvili, New Rights leader Davit Gamkrelidze, and Government of the Future leader Gia Maisashvili.