An influential lawmaker from the ruling party, Givi Targamadze, reiterated on May 28, that the authorities’ proposal remained unchanged about election timeframes.

He was speaking with journalists after the Georgian Orthodox Church released a statement calling on the authorities to defuse political tensions in the country “either through early elections, negotiations or other means.”

“Our primary call for today is to create a reliable environment in respect of election process. It will be possible only as a result of very intensive dialogue between the sides,” MP Givi Targamadze, a chairman for the parliamentary committee for defense and security, said.

“As far as elections are concerned, we have already stated and we are still saying that we are ready to launch this election cycle from next spring and not from this autumn and to launch this cycle by mayor’s elections,” he said. “I repeat that if we together do not create a reliable election environment, there is no sense to speak about it.”

Local elections are scheduled for late 2010, but the authorities have offered in early April to hold direct election of Tbilisi mayor in spring, 2010.

Another lawmaker from the ruling party, Giorgi Gabashvili, said that the Georgian church’s statement was calling for “consolidation dialogue, negotiations and for using of elections for defusing the difficult situation.”

“It requires from the political forces to end political rivalry and sit down at the negotiating table,” he added.