Opposition lawmakers fear that the ruling majority is misusing constitutional amendments for the consolidation of power under the pretext of foreign factors, which they say may further reduce the level of democracy in the country in the long-term perspective.

As expected, parliamentary debates on December 14 on a draft of constitutional amendments focused on a proposal to hold presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously sometime between October 1 and December 31, 2008, instead of the originally scheduled spring 2008 parliamentary elections and April, 2009 presidential elections.

Levan Bezhashvili, MP from the ruling National Movement party who chairs the Parliamentary Committee for Legal Affairs, said that the amendments will lead to the prolongation of the current Parliament’s term in office by about eight months – a major concern of the opposition lawmakers, who claim that it will be equal “to a usurpation of power.”

MP Bezhashvili admitted that a prolongation of the Parliament’s term in office “is not a practice in developed democracies.”

“But those countries [with developed democracy] do not face the same problems that Georgia does,” he added.

Parliamentarians from the ruling National Movement party made no secret that the new dates of simultaneous elections are being proposed because they do not want the Georgia’s parliamentary elections to coincide with the presidential elections in Russia, which are scheduled for March 2008.

The ruling majority’s point is that there is “a serious risk” that Russia may manipulate the Georgian elections, or even “stage serious provocations” in Georgia for internal Russian consumption on the eve of its presidential elections.

“We do not want Russia’s elections to coincide with the Georgian elections… The risk of provocations increases and I can say that we expect serious provocations in Georgia by that time [on the eve of Presidential elections in Russia],” Nika Gvaramia, an influential parliamentarian from the ruling National Movement party, said during the parliamentary debates on December 14.

“So we do not want our elections to become a victim of Russia’s election machine,” he added.

But opponents say that this is only a pretext, which has nothing to do with a real reason behind the proposed amendments.

Non-partisan opposition lawmaker Koka Guntsadze spoke at the parliamentary hearings about, as he put it, “a hidden and risky trend” which has emerged as a result of activities of the current authorities. He claims that this trend is an attempt to promote the notion of independence first, and then democracy.

“Democracy should not become an alternative to independence, and we should understand this. Soon you will face a choice: democracy, or to retain power. This is very dangerous choice and I doubt that you will make a choice in favor of democracy,” MP Guntsadze told the ruling majority at the parliamentary hearings on December 14.

MP Davit Zurabishvili from the opposition Democratic Front parliamentary faction emphasized another factor which he claims is behind the ruling majority’s decision.

“In his recent statements President Saakashvili made no secret that, as he thinks, it would be disastrous for Georgia’s current situation to have the President and the Parliament representing different political forces. He made it clear that the President should have his ruling majority in the Parliament. He claims that this is needed, as Georgia is still in a transition period,” MP Zurabishvili said.

Opposition lawmakers said that the ruling party wants simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections because there will be more chances for the National Movement party to win if it runs in the polls under a united banner with Mikheil Saakashvili.

“The real reason of these constitutional amendments is that you are afraid that none of you will be able to gain support if you fail to have a locomotive like Saakashvili,” MP Kakha Kukava from the opposition Conservative Party said at the hearings.

But in a counter-argument, influential parliamentarian from the ruling party Giga Bokeria dismissed the allegation by recalling the results of October 2006 local self-governance elections, in which the ruling party won a landslide victory. President Saakashvili was actively engaged in his party’s campaign.

‘Positive Proposal’

Despite disagreements over the new election dates, the opposition voiced its support towards other part of the proposed constitutional amendments that deal with the President’s revised role in the judiciary system. These two issues are proposed in one package of amendments.

According to the document, the President will no longer be the Chairman of the Justice Council – a body overseeing the judiciary system. Instead, the Chairman of the Supreme Court will serve as a chair of the Justice Council.

As a result the President will no longer have the right to sack or appoint judges.

“Depriving the President the right to appoint and sack judges is a positive decision. The decision that the President will no longer be a chairman of the Justice Council is also a positive step. But these positive steps are overshadowed by other amendments related with the[new dates of the] elections. So my proposal was to divide these two issues in the amendments and to propose them separately, as we were ready to vote for the amendments [related with the President’s competencies in judiciary],” MP Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the opposition New Rights party, said.

The opposition thinks that by proposing these two amendments in one package the ruling majority has tried to focus more on those positive proposals rather than on controversial ones.