Opposition says election agreement doomed to fail if ‘political prisoners’ aren’t released
Opposition parties say that they will not vote for the election bill if the ruling party refuses to release convicted opposition leaders.Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Parliamentary and non-parliamentary opposition members, who resumed discussions earlier today, said in a joint statement that the March 8 election agreement with the ruling Georgian Dream party is doomed to fail if the government ‘won’t fully abide by the agreement’ and remain opposition leaders behind cells.
The opposition says that they will not vote for the election bill per the agreement if Gigi Ugulava, Irakli Okruashvili and Giorgi Rurua remain in prison.
They say that the head of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili and the government will be responsible for the failure of the election agreement which has been described as the victory of Georgian democracy by the country's foreign partners.
Today, when the country faces major economic challenges due to the coronavirus, holding the 2020 parliamentary elections in a calm and a democratic environment is of high importance. A severe political crisis preceded the pandemic which was triggered by the ruling party. Thanks to Georgia’s foreign partners, we agreed (with the ruling party) on how to hold the 2020 elections. However, the ruling party refuses to fully abide by the agreement,” says the opposition.
The ruling party says that the opposition is trying to cheat people regarding the election agreement, creating threats to the fulfilment of the agreement. Photo; Georgian Dream press office.
The opposition said that the second part of the agreement (the first part concerns the election model for the upcoming elections) entailed the release of Ugulava, Okruashvili and Rurua through the presidential pardon.
Several of the opposition leaders stated that if the ruling party continues to disregard the agreement, they will take to the streets taking the epidemiological situation into account.
The ruling party says that they had made no promise for the release of opposition leaders, as it would be unacceptable and undemocratic and would amount to interference in a judicial issue.
They say that the election agreement also does not mention the release of the mentioned individuals.
A bill has been registered in parliament per the agreement of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the opposition on March 8.
The ruling Georgian Dream party and the united opposition have reached an agreement on holding the upcoming parliamentary elections this October with 120 seats in the legislative body to be distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system.
Georgian Parliament Speaker Archil Talakvadze has responded to the statement of US Senator James Risch on an agreement between the ruling party and the opposition, stating that there are no political prisoners in Georgia.
Georgian opposition parties, who came to an agreement with the ruling Georgian Dream party on March 8 on how to hold the 2020 elections, will resume discussions later today on how to make the government ‘fully abide with the agreement’ and ‘release imprisoned opposition leaders’.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili announced today that she is pardoning Georgian opposition politicians Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okruashvili, which she said was ‘a very difficult decision’. Salome Zurabishvili said although she is very well aware of the ‘real actions and crimes’ of the two former officials, Ugulava and Okruashvili, nevertheless, as the president, she is pardoning them for the sake of 'the country’s interests’.
Foreign ambassadors in Georgia, who have been facilitating the political dialogue between the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition over the 2020 parliamentary election model, welcomed President Salome Zurabishvili’s decision to pardon opposition politicians Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okruashvili.