Second round of consultations for power handover
By Ana Robakidze
Tuesday, October 9
The second round of power handover talks was launched between the Georgian Dream and the UNM on October 8th. The parties stuck to the original format of the talks and still held it as a consultation.
The meeting was held in a government building. It was announced earlier that the only aim of the consultations was to establish proper communication between parties, in order to help with peaceful transition of power in the country.
The Georgian Dream was represented by Sozar Subari; Irakli Garibashvili; Irakli Alasania and Davit Usupashvili. The UNM was represented by outgoing parliamentary speaker Davit Bakradze; Secretary of National Security Council Giga Bokeria; Tbilisi Mayor Gigi Ugulava and outgoing chairman of parliamentary committee for legal affairs Pavle Kublashvili.
Giga Bokeria hailed the meeting as very constructive and positive. "It is important that the future government is fully informed about the ongoing processes in the country, so they can continue to work on it," Bokeria commented after leaving the meeting.
No changes are expected in the structure and formation of the government, at least without the consultation of the GD. Davit Usupashvili also commented that the GD and UNM representatives have not talked about judges and the court system. "This issue is regulated by different institutions, not directly by the current or future government. In addition, addressing the problems of the court has not been an issue with today's talks" he said.
David Bakradze, the current parliamentary speaker, also informed journalists that changes in the government will not have an impact on those officials who are appointed and resigned directly by the president. Bakradze wants to be sure that the new majority of the parliament and the government work in accordance with other institutions; this will finally establish stability in this country.
Representatives of the Georgian Dream will build up small working groups which will be allowed into governmental institutions. The groups will collect information for a future government on ongoing processes and problems; this will make power transition easier.
Sozar Subari and Pavle Kublashvili explained that these groups do not aim to interfere in the work of the current government; their only task is to become informed about current projects the government has launched; this will help the future government to address all existing problems with more efficiency. Working groups will operate for about 2 weeks.
Bidzina Ivanishvili has already announced nominees for some of the key ministerial posts in his cabinet. Davit Usupashvili explained that the candidates and current ministers will start first communications immediately.
The GD and UNM are planning to continue talks. Future rounds of consultations are expected to be held by the end of the week.