Press Scanner
Complied by Liana Bezhanishvili
Tuesday, November 17
There are plenty of people like Tarkhnishvili in the National Movement - analyst
Kviris Palitra writes that Georgia is preparing for the next elections. Two significant events occurred last week – Levan Tarkhnishvili was dismissed from the Chairmanship of the Central Election Commission and Erosi Kitsmarishvili returned to television. But it is too early to draw conclusions. Tarkhnishvili was unlikely to have initiated the fabrication of the elections, and Kitsmarishvili, who is now employed by Maestro, should be aware that setting up an influential TV station requires finance and democracy to ensure that these finances are used correctly.
”I suppose that the opposition will not be much enamoured with any of the three candidates for CEC Chair nominated by the President. There will not be any official reproach of Tarkhnishvili, his removal will simply be presented as a concession to the opposition. But the fact is that the National Movement does not lack people like Tarkhnishvili so they are not much concerned whether he stays or not,” political analyst Soso Tsiskarishvili has said.
Asked about the possible reopening of the Larsi checkpoint, Tsiskarishvili said, “Georgia has not signed a deal on this yet. Therefore a state of belligerence still exists between the two states [Russia and Georgia]. How can we talk about opening the border in such conditions?! If we do not have 24 hour monitoring at the Larsi border checkpoint, both countries will continually accuse the other of violations concerning it.”
Nino Burjanadze has ‘interesting surprise’
Kviris Palitra writes that Leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia Nino Burjanadze had an interesting surprise at her meeting with EU Ambassadors. The surprise was that President Saakashvili started talking about a second wave of democracy at this meeting.
“Saakashvili is talking about democracy’s second wave when the public does not feel the breeze. We asked the Ambassadors to amend their opinions on Georgia,” stated Nino Burjanadze, who said she had presented documents on political prisoners and talked about problems of media freedom.
Salome Zourabichvili attacks pseudo-opposition
In an interview with Mteli Kvira Salome Zourabichvili has stated: “We will begin to conduct a total fight on all fronts – holding protest actions, bringing cases in the law courts and attending the election commission, but we will not consent to the conditions demanded by the Government. The people are so afraid that they hardly come to the actions and then they are not ready to talk about their problems publicly. We cannot stop holding them however because since Biden’s visit the Government has not stopped causing problems but in fact made them worse.
“Alasania was the first person who nominated himself as a candidate for Mayor and I think that he is a very good one. He is well known to foreigners and constructive. When Alasania says that that we cannot achieve anything without removing Saakashvili and the election environment is bad it is more convincing than when well-known radicals say it.
“Tactically it might be better to have a single opposition candidate and I am the supporter of this idea. We will not take part in an ordinary election here where everything is prearranged. I hope we will see multi-party elections at some point but for now it is necessary to fight against Saakashvili and therefore we need a single candidate,” stated Salome Zourabichvili. “I work in this way. When I feel that something has changed I will say so. I have explained to everyone why we need to be united in this fight,” she added.
“The opposition environment at present is the most disgusting which could exist. There is a pseudo-opposition which hinders us and damages our image. There is constant listening, rumour and discrediting, and this is the environment of a quasi-totalitarian country in which a strong opposition is not expected to exist,” Zourabichvili added.
Kviris Palitra writes that Georgia is preparing for the next elections. Two significant events occurred last week – Levan Tarkhnishvili was dismissed from the Chairmanship of the Central Election Commission and Erosi Kitsmarishvili returned to television. But it is too early to draw conclusions. Tarkhnishvili was unlikely to have initiated the fabrication of the elections, and Kitsmarishvili, who is now employed by Maestro, should be aware that setting up an influential TV station requires finance and democracy to ensure that these finances are used correctly.
”I suppose that the opposition will not be much enamoured with any of the three candidates for CEC Chair nominated by the President. There will not be any official reproach of Tarkhnishvili, his removal will simply be presented as a concession to the opposition. But the fact is that the National Movement does not lack people like Tarkhnishvili so they are not much concerned whether he stays or not,” political analyst Soso Tsiskarishvili has said.
Asked about the possible reopening of the Larsi checkpoint, Tsiskarishvili said, “Georgia has not signed a deal on this yet. Therefore a state of belligerence still exists between the two states [Russia and Georgia]. How can we talk about opening the border in such conditions?! If we do not have 24 hour monitoring at the Larsi border checkpoint, both countries will continually accuse the other of violations concerning it.”
Nino Burjanadze has ‘interesting surprise’
Kviris Palitra writes that Leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia Nino Burjanadze had an interesting surprise at her meeting with EU Ambassadors. The surprise was that President Saakashvili started talking about a second wave of democracy at this meeting.
“Saakashvili is talking about democracy’s second wave when the public does not feel the breeze. We asked the Ambassadors to amend their opinions on Georgia,” stated Nino Burjanadze, who said she had presented documents on political prisoners and talked about problems of media freedom.
Salome Zourabichvili attacks pseudo-opposition
In an interview with Mteli Kvira Salome Zourabichvili has stated: “We will begin to conduct a total fight on all fronts – holding protest actions, bringing cases in the law courts and attending the election commission, but we will not consent to the conditions demanded by the Government. The people are so afraid that they hardly come to the actions and then they are not ready to talk about their problems publicly. We cannot stop holding them however because since Biden’s visit the Government has not stopped causing problems but in fact made them worse.
“Alasania was the first person who nominated himself as a candidate for Mayor and I think that he is a very good one. He is well known to foreigners and constructive. When Alasania says that that we cannot achieve anything without removing Saakashvili and the election environment is bad it is more convincing than when well-known radicals say it.
“Tactically it might be better to have a single opposition candidate and I am the supporter of this idea. We will not take part in an ordinary election here where everything is prearranged. I hope we will see multi-party elections at some point but for now it is necessary to fight against Saakashvili and therefore we need a single candidate,” stated Salome Zourabichvili. “I work in this way. When I feel that something has changed I will say so. I have explained to everyone why we need to be united in this fight,” she added.
“The opposition environment at present is the most disgusting which could exist. There is a pseudo-opposition which hinders us and damages our image. There is constant listening, rumour and discrediting, and this is the environment of a quasi-totalitarian country in which a strong opposition is not expected to exist,” Zourabichvili added.