Ex-PM Says Working on Setting Up of New Party
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 20 Nov.'08 / 16:48

Zurab Nogaideli, a former Prime Minister, said on November 19 that he was now working on setting up a new political party and its action plan.

“The major problem now is that as it turned out the authorities have no strong, well-organized alternative political force,” Nogaideli, who served as PM from February, 2005 to November, 2007, told a program of the Tbilisi-based FM radio station, Ucnobi, simulcast by Kavkasia TV.

Nogaideli, who lashed out at his former allies for as he put it a failure to avert the August war, said that he did not seen the need for early parliamentary or presidential elections in a short-term period. 

“That’s not an issue which is on the society’s agenda as well; the society does not want it now,” he said. “But at the same time I think that there will be negative developments in the country’s economy and the political confrontation will also deepen, so I do not rule out that early elections will be held at some point.

He said that he had two priorities now: one establishing his party’s infrastructure and drawing up the party’s political action plan. Nogaideli also said that he was “not in a hurry” while pursuing these goals, because he did not think early elections would be held sometime in the nearest future.

Nogaideli also said that he was time after time holding consultations and meetings with other opposition figures, including with Levan Gachechiladze, a former opposition presidential candidate and Nino Burjanadze, a former parliamentary chairperson.

Responding to some of his critics and those who are criticizing some opposition figures for having consultations with a former PM, Nogaideli said: “We should not be looking back pointing finger at each other blaming opposition for its failure to be more organized or blaming authorities for not giving enough space to the opposition. Instead, today we should manage maximum coordination between the opposition forces.”

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