Labour Party’s new 4-point plan

Secretary of the Labour Party, Nestan Kirtadze yesterday presented a 4-initiative plan on how to change the authorities. Offering the public new ways of forcing the government to step down, Kirtadze claimed the fairest way for to oust the authorities was to distribute power to the people. “We will fight for returning legal powers to the people. They should be able to choose the government by taking responsibility for the country,” Kirtadze stated.

Highlighting the importance of elections the Labour Party stressed the need for legislative changes to make elections “obligatory ” and encouraged Georgians to participate in the elections, which they are confident will show improved fairness. Kirtadze also mentioned the make-up of the election commissions; doubtful of the professionalism of the Government-elected members Kirtadze said “each election commission should have one representative from each party.”

“The ruling United National Movement (UNM) has been using the term “professional” as a lure for local and international organisations. As a matter of a fact they filled the election commission with their supporters, which concluded in the falsification of elections,” Kirtadze said suggesting a repeated check of the votes if necessary.

Demanding the annulment of the “majority corps” the Labour Party Secretary disapproves of the engagement of “businessmen and millionaires” in politics. “It’s commonly known that the majority MPs are chosen according to their devotion to the acting political regime, thus they create an artificial majority in the one-party Parliament,” she stated.

Worrying that participation of the business sector in legislative processes has been serving the idea of the so-called “elite corruption”, she said, “Mixing money and politics has caused the criminalisation of the political system. In addition monopolies have been preventing the development of free business and creation of new jobs in Georgia.”

Explaining the meaning of “public governance”, Kirtadze spoke to The Messenger about the responsibility between the people and the Government. Doubtful whether the UNM members would consider the Labour Party’s initiatives, Kirtadze is concerned that the ruling party has been making legislative changes “autonomously”. “The Government will hardly make compromises on these issues, that’s why we, the Labor Party encourage the people to return their authority. People are the main part of the political system worldwide and their participation in the electoral processes is important .These people shouldn’t be the sources for the Government’s success, on the contrary it’s up to the people to take control of the activities carried out by the authorities,” Kirtadze told us.

Optimistic of the objective and fair withdrawal of the Government using the methods mentioned, the Labour Party will introduce their 4-point plan to the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis, who arrives in Georgia today.

Majority MP Nugzar Tsiklauri disapproved of the Labour Party’s use of ultimatum and encouraged each interested political side to start negotiating on the issue. “Elections are the world process based on peoples’ choice. Every politician has the legal right to express their concerns on the issue but the statements made by the party are “insolent”. The election commissions can be better if they are made up of impartial figures but reorganisation will need some time,” Tsiklauri told The Messenger. Welcoming negotiations on the improvements to the electoral situation in Georgia by eight opposition parties, the MP hoped these would fully eradicate any shortcomings within the local electoral code.