Press Scanner
Compiled by Londa Mindiashvili
Monday, August 3
Another Georgian village is being lost
Sakartvelos Respublika reports that Georgia is losing another village. According to the Kakheti Information Centre the Border Police no longer control the village Erisimedi in the Sighnaghi district. There is a Border Police checkpoint at the entrance to the village, but Erisimedi residents or other Georgian citizens who want to enter the village now need identity cards and special registration to do this.
“If we manage to go to Sighnaghi, we have some problems returning home. The Border Police do not allow us through without us showing our identity cards. My daughter-in-law visited me few weeks ago. She was with her nephew, but the Border Police did not allow the child to come because he did not have an identity card. This situation makes us think that Erisimedi does not belong to either Sighnaghi district or Georgia but Azerbaijan,” states Taliko Makharadze, a citizen of Erisimedi.
Demuri Kekenadze, head of the Dedoflitskaro Border Police department, says that they have been given the order to erect a checkpoint at the entrance to the village by a higher authority.
Zurab Noghaideli will not give the Government the chance to falsify elections on 27 September
Rezonansi writes that seven political parties have already informed Georgia’s Central Election Commission that they wish to take part in the Parliamentary by-elections which will be held on 27 September. Several non-Parliamentary opposition parties are among them. The Parliamentary opposition also intends to field candidates in each constituency. The Conservative Party has also applied to stand.
Some non-Parliamentary opposition parties however have said they will not take part and are not going to change their decision. Manana Nachkebia, of the Alliance for Georgia, has said taking part in the by-election serves no purpose. “Taking part in any election has no point because the election code has not been changed and it is not improving on its own. We have no capacity to hold free elections,” explains Nachkebia.
“These by-elections are a very good opportunity for us to test our strength. The Georgian population must see that changing the Government through elections is possible,” states Zurab Noghaideli, the leader of the Movement for Fair Georgia. Noghaideli hopes that the ruling party will also run candidates in these elections. Noghaideli himself is not intending to stand, but says he will not give the Government the chance to falsify the by-election results.
Changing the Government is pointless while we are looking for a patron – Soso Tsiskarishvili
Akhali Taoba reports a statement by Soso Tsiskarishvili, Georgian political analyst: “the word ‘patron’ is very attractive for the Georgian consciousness. Not having a patron usually means having more personal responsibility and dignity. But in Georgia the term does not have this meaning. If you have no patron you are secondary.
“Society made a mistake with the opposition. The Georgian people demanded that the opposition come, do their work and be their patron. If changing the Government only means changing the patron of our people it is really good that the rallies have ended without result. Changing the Government will not serve any purpose if this is all that will happen. It would only do so when society is more representative and defends its own interests.
“We must understand that we resolve our own problems and no one will do it for us. Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden told us the same. Biden told us directly – you must decide for yourselves who will be your President and when elections should be held. The Georgian people thought that the patron would visit, scold one person and caress another. This will never happen because we are part of a world where society decides everything,” added Tsiskarishvili.
Sakartvelos Respublika reports that Georgia is losing another village. According to the Kakheti Information Centre the Border Police no longer control the village Erisimedi in the Sighnaghi district. There is a Border Police checkpoint at the entrance to the village, but Erisimedi residents or other Georgian citizens who want to enter the village now need identity cards and special registration to do this.
“If we manage to go to Sighnaghi, we have some problems returning home. The Border Police do not allow us through without us showing our identity cards. My daughter-in-law visited me few weeks ago. She was with her nephew, but the Border Police did not allow the child to come because he did not have an identity card. This situation makes us think that Erisimedi does not belong to either Sighnaghi district or Georgia but Azerbaijan,” states Taliko Makharadze, a citizen of Erisimedi.
Demuri Kekenadze, head of the Dedoflitskaro Border Police department, says that they have been given the order to erect a checkpoint at the entrance to the village by a higher authority.
Zurab Noghaideli will not give the Government the chance to falsify elections on 27 September
Rezonansi writes that seven political parties have already informed Georgia’s Central Election Commission that they wish to take part in the Parliamentary by-elections which will be held on 27 September. Several non-Parliamentary opposition parties are among them. The Parliamentary opposition also intends to field candidates in each constituency. The Conservative Party has also applied to stand.
Some non-Parliamentary opposition parties however have said they will not take part and are not going to change their decision. Manana Nachkebia, of the Alliance for Georgia, has said taking part in the by-election serves no purpose. “Taking part in any election has no point because the election code has not been changed and it is not improving on its own. We have no capacity to hold free elections,” explains Nachkebia.
“These by-elections are a very good opportunity for us to test our strength. The Georgian population must see that changing the Government through elections is possible,” states Zurab Noghaideli, the leader of the Movement for Fair Georgia. Noghaideli hopes that the ruling party will also run candidates in these elections. Noghaideli himself is not intending to stand, but says he will not give the Government the chance to falsify the by-election results.
Changing the Government is pointless while we are looking for a patron – Soso Tsiskarishvili
Akhali Taoba reports a statement by Soso Tsiskarishvili, Georgian political analyst: “the word ‘patron’ is very attractive for the Georgian consciousness. Not having a patron usually means having more personal responsibility and dignity. But in Georgia the term does not have this meaning. If you have no patron you are secondary.
“Society made a mistake with the opposition. The Georgian people demanded that the opposition come, do their work and be their patron. If changing the Government only means changing the patron of our people it is really good that the rallies have ended without result. Changing the Government will not serve any purpose if this is all that will happen. It would only do so when society is more representative and defends its own interests.
“We must understand that we resolve our own problems and no one will do it for us. Vice President of the United States Joseph Biden told us the same. Biden told us directly – you must decide for yourselves who will be your President and when elections should be held. The Georgian people thought that the patron would visit, scold one person and caress another. This will never happen because we are part of a world where society decides everything,” added Tsiskarishvili.