Foreign ambassadors welcome Georgian President’s decision to pardon opposition politicians
Foreign ambassadors said they ‘will continue to follow closely further progress with regard to all aspects’ related to the March 8 agreement. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Tweet 
Share
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.
We welcome today’s decision by the President of Georgia to use her constitutional powers in the interest of political de-polarisation and creating a political environment more conducive to a free, fair and transparent electoral process”, the joint statement reads.
The facilitators of the political dialogue ‘consider this decision also as a pivotal contribution’ toward the implementation of the March 8 agreement when the ruling party and opposition agreed to hold the elections this October with 120 seats in the legislative body distributed via a proportional vote and the remaining 30 via the majoritarian system.
We strongly appeal to all sides to fully implement the agreement in both letter and spirit and to play their part to ensure the successful adoption of the constitutional amendments and the election reform legislation, in the interest of free and fair elections this autumn”, the facilitators added.
The ambassadors also noted that they ‘will continue to follow closely further progress with regard to all aspects’ related to the March 8 agreement.
Joint statement by the facilitators of the political dialogue
— Carl Hartzell (@CarlHartzellEU) May 15, 2020
➡️https://t.co/iLb0eF2sWW pic.twitter.com/NtaIQXLpU6
President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned Ugulava and Okruashvili yesterday to avoid 'endangering election agreement'.
Zurabishvili said in her video address that although she was very well aware of the ‘real actions and crimes’ of the two former officials, as the president, she was pardoning them for the sake of 'the country’s interests’ to hold ‘fair and democratic elections’.
Calling Ugulava and Okruashvili ‘political prisoners’, opposition parties demanded their release. Otherwise, they said they would not vote for the election bill.
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 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’.
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.
Foreign ambassadors in Georgia, who have been working as facilitators in the dialogue between the government and opposition on 2020 election model, on Monday responded to calls to confirm contents of the March 8 agreement between the two parties by calling on them to "uphold" the deal.
Opposition parties accuse the ruling Georgian Dream party of endangering the March 8 election agreement ‘once again’ as Tbilisi City court denied bail to the co-founder of opposition-minded Mtavari Arkhi Giorgi Rurua earlier today.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has responded to a MEP from Poland Anna Fotyga that opposition leaders Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okruashvili were not ‘political prisoners.’ On May 15 President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned Ugulava and Okruashvili as she said to ‘discharge the situation.’
MEPs have praised Georgia’s ‘very effective’ response to COVID-19 and have welcomed the recent pardon of Georgian opposition leaders Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okrushvili during today’s discussion of the annual implementation report of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has responded to the recent pardon of opposition leaders Gigi Ugulava and Irakli Okruashvili and stated that it is unacceptable for him that ‘so-called politicians, who committed serious crimes, were pardoned only because they are in politics.’ “It is unacceptable for me that the person who was trying to break into the parliament building on June 20 (referring to Irakli Okruashvili) and the person who stole 50 million GEL from the state budget (referring to Gigi Ugulava) were pardoned only because they are politicians, so-called politicians,” Gakharia said.
In her remarks, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said that for a small country like Georgia with an emerging economy, standing ‘at the door of Europe’, the coronavirus crisis ‘has taught us a number of important lessons’.