Nino Burjanadze, the parliamentary chairperson, said the authorities would not meet the opposition’s “ultimatum” unless it ended the ongoing hunger strike.

The eight-party opposition coalition and the New Rights Party said after meeting with Ilia II, the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, on March 20 that they would end the hunger strike only if the authorities agreed to its “compromise proposal” on electing majoritarian MPs. The meeting followed the Patriarch’s earlier call on March 20 on the opposition to end the hunger strike.

“I want to thank the Georgian Patriarch for, as always, showing his care and expressing his position on ongoing developments and for calling on our hunger striker opponents to end the hunger strike and to return to the negotiating table,” Burjanadze said.

She, however, did not mention the Patriarch’s appeal to the authorities to take steps to defuse the political tension. Burjanadze merely reiterated a previous willingness to engage in dialogue.

She also said the Patriarch’s appeal was “very important” because “everyone, including myself, had a deep belief that the Patriarch’s appeal for an end to the hunger strike would have been met with unanimous [opposition] consent.”

Burjanadze claimed that making political demands immediately after the meeting with the Patriarch amounted to placing demands on the Patriarch himself.

“Unfortunately, instead of unconditionally ending the hunger strike following the Patriarch’s appeal, our opponents directed their political demands towards the Patriarch,” Burjanadze said. “I deem it totally unacceptable to put forth political demands as a precondition for ending the hunger strike.”

“Ultimatums are totally unacceptable, especially when they concern the Patriarch’s appeal for an immediate end to the hunger strike,” she said. “I hope our opponents will listen to this appeal by the Patriarch, end the hunger strike and resume talks.”

“We are ready for political dialogue. There are many issues that need to be negotiated in order to hold free and democratic elections. The date of the elections has already been decided [May 21], so all the political parties should get ready for the elections. But putting forth political demands to the Patriarch and pushing ultimatums towards the Patriarch is totally unacceptable.”