Georgia: Parliamentary Election Update

TOL Georgia reports on the latest developments in the run-up to next month’s parliamentary election in Georgia. In the first of three posts, the blog comments on news that the country’s parliamentary speaker, Nino Burjanadze, appears to have temporarily retired from active politics ahead of the vote.

Burjanadze has been widely considered as the moderate and constructive voice within Saakashvili’s administration. They way she explained her move suggests that she was unhappy at the role she held within the party — that is, she didn’t like her marginal influence.

Meanwhile, the president’s former defense minister and now outspoken critic, Irakli Okruashvili, has applied for and received political asylum in France.

If Okruashvili wants a part in the Georgian political life, he then should be pondering his return before the elections. If Paris is OK, then he might as well stay there and forget about his political ambitions.

In the final post so far, the blog says that it is likely that the Georgian president’s National Movement party will gain the majority of votes in the crucial parliamentary vote. However, the blog says that such an outcome is not necessarily because the authorities have popular support.

Indeed, following the disputed January presidential election, it concludes that the prerequisites for a free and fair vote are missing.

To put it simply, these elections will decide whether Georgia is on the right path — and if this test fails, then prospects of NATO can be forgotten for a few years or so. Therefore, the presence of trust is essential for fair elections — the results must be accepted by everyone involved in the election process. Unfortunately this is not present, which promises to cause unrests in case of disagreement with results.

Cross-posted on Global Voices Online.