Georgia: Opposition ultimatum passes

An hour after an opposition ultimatum for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili to resign went unheeded, reports indicate that thousands of people continue to protest in the country’s capital, Tbilisi. Radiobedniereba’s Blog, a GIPA Journalism School blogger, has more on the latest developments.

The Opposition parties, raised an ultimatum to President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign in 24 hours. The ultimatum time expires on 3 p.m. today. If Saakashvili will not resign, permanent demonstrations will start in all of Georgia, the opposition leaders say.

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Protestors are waiting for Saakashvili’s decision and the opposition parties’ plans that are going to be announced today, at 4 p.m.

However, the number of people taking to the streets is believed to be much lower than yesterday, a national holiday, and expat blogger Wu Wei isn’t expecting them to succeed.

At the end of the day, the Opposition gave Saakashvili 24 hours to resign. It doesn’t seem very likely that he would do so.

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The police were only bystanding or inside important buildings and had instructions only to take action if the demonstrators tried to enter the buildings and take them over, which didn’t happen.

It seems it was a fun day, but the Opposition did not impress anyone with a coherent plan to take over. Nor did Saakashvili impress people with his offer to the Opposition to discuss and improve the Election Code. It’s not enough to improve transparency and debate over policies, which is really needed. There needs to be more debate in the press and TV and Parliament.

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