The opposition said the ruling party’s response to its demands was totally inappropriate and unacceptable and called on supporters to rally outside Parliament at 2pm local time on February 15. “This is a shameful response made after three weeks of hysteria, with the authorities telling us they would meet 15 of our 17 demands,” Tina Khidasheli of the Republican Party told Civil.Ge. “The continuation of dialogue is impossible in light of this response by the authorities, who have chosen not to meet any of our demands.” “They are making fun of us,” MP Zviad Dzidziguri said. “They [the authorities] are testing us. They want to see whether people will turn out tomorrow [at the protest rally]. I assure you people will turn out at the rally and it will be a radical protest rally. Now we have no time for having chat with them, we have a responsibility towards our people and we will start consideration together with out people what to do with these dishonest authorities.” “The response [from the authorities] is much worse than we could have imagined during the consultation process,” MP Davit Gamkrelidze, the leader of the opposition New Rights Party, which is not part of the nine-party opposition coalition, said. “We have no tangible result on any of the issues. There is no willingness by the authorities to resolve the issues listed [in the opposition’s 17-point memorandum]. They have been ignored.” The authorities have also agreed, as was demanded by the opposition, to set up a parliamentary commission to investigate the alleged excessive use of force by law enforcement bodies during the November 7 events and the alleged intimidation of and attacks on political opponents. The commission, however, will not be formed until after the parliamentary elections. It will also be charged with investigating, what the authorities call, “the attempted overthrow of the government” and “cases involving cooperation with foreign special services.” There have been official allegations that certain opposition politicians were cooperating with Russian intelligence. The commission, according to the memorandum, will only “give a political assessment” with criminal proceedings against anyone implicated ruled out. “Facts revealed in connection to the November 2007 events should not become the reason for political retaliation and criminal proceedings,” the memorandum reads. Opposition demands for restructuring of the Interior Ministry and transparent public oversight of law enforcement agencies have also been addressed in the memorandum, with a proposal to set up an all-inclusive commission within a month to develop a reform plan of the Interior Ministry. The resignation of Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and newly appointed General Prosecutor Eka Tkeshelashvili, key opposition demands, have not, however, been met. To address election-related complaints, the authorities have proposed the establishment of “a Special Council” by the end of March. It will be composed of four to six members agreed on by the authorities and the opposition. “One member, if agreement can be reached, will be selected by a respected international organization,” the memorandum reads. As was previously agreed, the authorities said they would abolish the first-past-the-post, winner-takes-all system of electing majoritarian lawmakers and lower the election threshold from the current 7% to 5% by the end of March. A constitutional amendment allowing for a new confidence vote for the cabinet after the new parliament is elected has also been promised. Implementation of the proposals will, according to the memorandum, be conditional on the opposition agreeing to them. Ruling party lawmakers said that their proposals were a compromise and the opposition’s rejection of it was an attempt to move the political process back onto the street. “Instead of backing agreements through the signing [of the ruling party’s memorandum] and instead of implementing [the provisions in the memorandum] we receive statements of this type,” ruling party lawmaker Levan Bezhashvili, who was engaged in the talks with the opposition, said. “Some in the opposition still want to move political developments from Parliament onto the streets and create destabilization. I think this effort is doomed to failure.” |
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