President welcomed in the Parliament

On March 25, Georgian Parliament adopted the constitutional amendments demanded by the Georgian Dream coalition. Now, after the amendments are written into law, the parliamentary majority is now welcoming President Mikheil Saakashvili to deliver his annual speech. Presumably the president’s speech will be followed by hot debates.

During his presidency, Saakashvili has mainly avoided debates and harsh questions from the media. Thus, the Georgian people are very much interested in how he will behave now.

Initially, Saakashvili planned to address the nation from parliament on February 8, but the parliamentary majority rejected this idea, so Saakashvili attempted to address the nation from the parliamentary library in Tbilisi, but the former political prisoners recently released under the law on amnesty, demanded to attend Saakashvili’s speech and ask questions.

This demand was followed by clashes between protesters and Saakashvili’s supporters from the United National Movement (UNM). Luckily no one was seriously injured, but some people were physically assaulted and the scandal received international attention, as some in the West considered it as persecution of the opposition.

Eventually, Saakashvili managed to address the people from his presidential palace in Tbilisi. However, all the sides– including the Georgian nation– had feelings of dissatisfaction. Whatever unpleasant personality a president can be, he is the head of the country and is recognized as Georgia's legal president right now.

Georgian Dream leadership and specifically Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili do not want to create the impression that yet another Georgian president was forcefully removed from his position. Therefore, Ivanishvili and his team are cautiously dealing with the issue and want all the proceedings to be conducted in the legal way.

We think this is the major reason that the majority is prepared to listen to Saakashvili. However, they say they are getting ready to ask many challenging questions which may put Saakashvili in an awkward position. And this time he cannot avoid giving answers because the master of the ceremony will be the Georgian Dream coalition this time. Both parties claim that this appearance should be handled in a constructive environment.

The exact date of the president’s speech will be announced soon. Meanwhile the minor parties out of Parliament complain that the Georgian Dream and the UNM have monopolized the political scene without giving a chance for them to participate in the ongoing processes.