Press Scanner
Compiled by Salome Modebadze
Wednesday, November 12
Lavrov doesn’t believe the OSCE mission
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is demanding to look through the OSCE mandate in Georgia, and stating that as far as he can see at present it doesn’t correspond with reality, Sakartvelos Respublika reports.
“The mandate of the OSCE mission for the current year doesn’t conform to reality. It foresees the monitoring of the conflicting sides and a peacekeeping process in Georgian-Ossetian villages, but there is no peace process any more because the Georgian side broke the peace agreement. That’s why it’s so important to look through the mandate,” Lavrov stated.
Sarishvili still confronts opposition
Sakartvelos Respublika writes that Irina Sarishvili, leader of political party Imedi, is accusing the opposition of acting with double standards. Sarishvili’s irritation has been caused by the fact that the 16-people list of political prisoners presented by the opposition doesn’t include Igor Giorgadze’s supporters.
“Today the opposition plays the same political game as the Government. They make a list of political prisoners according to their private sympathies. I personally can’t see a great difference between the two sides, which is no surprise as they presented a united front before and after the Rose Revolution for a particular time.”
“Giorgadze’s supporters have been recognized as political prisoners by Sozar Subari, the Public Defender. I hoped the opposition would mention these people in their demand too, but in vain,” Sarishvili noted.
Eka Beselia, one of the leaders of the United Opposition states that the list of political prisoners presented contains only those arrested after October 2007. “There is another list of political prisoners arrested before that time,” she noted.
The results of intermediate elections have been summed up
The Central Election Commission has published the official results of by-elections from two electoral districts, Sakartvelos Respublika writes.
According to its report, in Vake Tamaz Kvachantiradze, the Christian-Democrat candidate, received 42.72% of the votes, Levan Asatiani from We Ourselves got 34.34% and Kakha Koridze from Georgian Troupe 22.91%. In Didube Guram Chakhvadze of the National Democratic Party received 65.33%, Natia Mikiashvili from Georgian Troupe 18.06%, and Jemal Natelashvili 9.77%. Tamaz Kvachantiradze and Guram Chakhvadze will therefore fill the two vacancies in the Georgian Parliament.
United Opposition plan unacceptable for Konstantine Gamsakhurdia
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, the leader of the Freedom Party, doesn’t agree with the opposition’s plans for a new wave of protests and is working with the political organization National Forum on a new strategy, 24 saati reports.
Gamsakhurdia says he is going to start his own protests with his supporters. “Consultations with members of the National Forum are being held. The United Opposition’s protests, like the last elections, are inadmissible for us as they have always ended with negotiations and agreements which the Government has never fulfilled. No one from the opposition has felt responsible for those failures. I haven’t taken part in planning the opposition’s steps. Most of their strategy is unacceptable to me,” Gamsakhurdia stated.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is demanding to look through the OSCE mandate in Georgia, and stating that as far as he can see at present it doesn’t correspond with reality, Sakartvelos Respublika reports.
“The mandate of the OSCE mission for the current year doesn’t conform to reality. It foresees the monitoring of the conflicting sides and a peacekeeping process in Georgian-Ossetian villages, but there is no peace process any more because the Georgian side broke the peace agreement. That’s why it’s so important to look through the mandate,” Lavrov stated.
Sarishvili still confronts opposition
Sakartvelos Respublika writes that Irina Sarishvili, leader of political party Imedi, is accusing the opposition of acting with double standards. Sarishvili’s irritation has been caused by the fact that the 16-people list of political prisoners presented by the opposition doesn’t include Igor Giorgadze’s supporters.
“Today the opposition plays the same political game as the Government. They make a list of political prisoners according to their private sympathies. I personally can’t see a great difference between the two sides, which is no surprise as they presented a united front before and after the Rose Revolution for a particular time.”
“Giorgadze’s supporters have been recognized as political prisoners by Sozar Subari, the Public Defender. I hoped the opposition would mention these people in their demand too, but in vain,” Sarishvili noted.
Eka Beselia, one of the leaders of the United Opposition states that the list of political prisoners presented contains only those arrested after October 2007. “There is another list of political prisoners arrested before that time,” she noted.
The results of intermediate elections have been summed up
The Central Election Commission has published the official results of by-elections from two electoral districts, Sakartvelos Respublika writes.
According to its report, in Vake Tamaz Kvachantiradze, the Christian-Democrat candidate, received 42.72% of the votes, Levan Asatiani from We Ourselves got 34.34% and Kakha Koridze from Georgian Troupe 22.91%. In Didube Guram Chakhvadze of the National Democratic Party received 65.33%, Natia Mikiashvili from Georgian Troupe 18.06%, and Jemal Natelashvili 9.77%. Tamaz Kvachantiradze and Guram Chakhvadze will therefore fill the two vacancies in the Georgian Parliament.
United Opposition plan unacceptable for Konstantine Gamsakhurdia
Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, the leader of the Freedom Party, doesn’t agree with the opposition’s plans for a new wave of protests and is working with the political organization National Forum on a new strategy, 24 saati reports.
Gamsakhurdia says he is going to start his own protests with his supporters. “Consultations with members of the National Forum are being held. The United Opposition’s protests, like the last elections, are inadmissible for us as they have always ended with negotiations and agreements which the Government has never fulfilled. No one from the opposition has felt responsible for those failures. I haven’t taken part in planning the opposition’s steps. Most of their strategy is unacceptable to me,” Gamsakhurdia stated.