The opposition Alliance for Georgia will engage in active consultations with other opposition parties to elaborate a detailed action plan on how to achieve “a joint goal” – resignation of President Saakashvili, leader of the alliance, Irakli Alasania, said on March 6.

Alliance for Georgia, uniting, apart of Alasania’s political team, New Rights and Republican parties, called on the President on February 23 to agree on holding of a referendum before March 5 to ask voters whether they wanted early elections or not. 

The Alliance said that President Saakashvili refused to heed the call before the deadline expired and now it was no longer pushing for holding of the referendum.

Speaking at a news conference, Alasania said the Alliance would now itself appeal to voters to join the demand of President Saakashvili’s resignation by putting their signatures – the process he described as “national plebiscite.”

He said that this “national plebiscite” would serve as “a moral boost” to the opposition’s drive to force the authorities to hold the early presidential elections. The Alliance, Alasania said, was launching setting up of offices in the regions for that purpose.

Something similar – collection of voters’ signatures - has been launched by another, larger group of opposition parties, on March 5. This group, uniting eight parties, has called for launching permanent street protest rallies from April 9 to demand Saakashvili’s resignation.

Alasania has acknowledged on March 6, that although having the same goal, tactics varied on who to achieve this goal – resignation of the President.

Asked whether the Alliance would join the planned protest rally on April 9, Alasania responded that it would depend on the outcome of consultations with those opposition parties.

“It will depend on whether or not we will agree on the action plan which should accomplish our goal. We are in consultation on this matter with various opposition parties,” he said. “We have no differences in goal; we are holding consultations on tactics and forms of achieving this goal, including on protest rallies which are planned in April. These differences on the tactics will be overcome through these consultations.”

Some politicians from the Alliance said in their recent comments on the matter, that the opposition had “a bad experience” of hastily pre-announced dates for protest rallies, when the opposition was failing to mobilize large number of supporters at rallies, because of insufficient preparatory works. The Alliance, however, does not completely rule out joining the protest rallies planned on April 9.

Irakli Alasania also said on March 6, that the Alliance through its offices in the regions and the capital will carry out “public monitoring of the state agencies,” in particular “repressive police machinery.”