Nino Burjanadze gets ready to win

The situation in Georgian politics remains obscure. As the analysts suggest the ruling Georgian Dream coalition is gradually losing its rating and there is talk about serious controversy within the unity established for the 2012 parliamentary elections.

The opposition United National Movement is facing momentous pressure and is less likely to consolidate the opposition parties for the upcoming 2016 parliamentary race.

Former Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze’s opposition Democratic Movement-United Georgia, is evidently different from the other opposition entities. The party supports Georgia’s cooperation with Russia and the Georgian Dream supports this.

Former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has not masked his support for Burjanadze as the leader of the opposition. He even hoped the party would have replaced the UNM as the major opposition party in parliament in 2012.

However, Burjanadze failed in 2012 and in the 2013 presidential elections was also defeated by UNM candidate Davit Bakradze.

Nevertheless, Burjanadze continues her fight which is backed by the current authorities.

Some members of Burjanadze’s party were appointed to the executive government, which triggered speculation over a merger of the party with the Georgian Dream.

Burjanadze dismisses the statements, stressing that the appointment several representatives of the party to official posts does not mean any type of unification.

“If the coalition requires our human resource to do a job we are ready to assist them,” Burjanadze states.

Burjanadze claims that she does not see any necessity in joining with the Georgian Dream, but she does not exclude cooperating with different political parties.

She criticizes both the domestic and foreign policy of the Georgian Dream. Burjanadze emphasizes that the Georgian Dream should have strongly punished the UNM representatives for their past criminal activities. She says that the UNM representatives still work as high-ranking officials and cites this as one of the major drawbacks of the coalition.

Russia is the main topic in which Burjanadze denounces the current government. She claims that the Georgian Dream has lost the chance to regulate relations with Russia because it is afraid of the ‘pro-Russian’ status.

“Direct dialogue with Russia is very important. We should not get involved in the anti-Russian campaign,” Burjanadze says.

Thus, Burjanadze offers more concessions towards Russia distances herself from the West. Let’s see how our voters feel about that. It should be said that Burjanadze also was in close alliance with UNM and the voters of course remember this.