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Presidential Campaign in Georgia Starts with Saakashvili
Today the presidential election campaign officially starts in Georgia. The opposition, united as the People's Movement for a Peaceful Change of Government, will be supporting candidate Levan Gachechiladze. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili got a early start when he criticized main opposition financier Badri Patarkatsishvili last week. The object of the president's ire was a broadcast on Patarkatsishvili's Imedi television channel about the Kakhetia region of Georgia, where the Russian embargo of Georgian wines has been especially harmful. He called the broadcast “an enemy raid” and promised to advertise the vintners' produce at government expense in Poland and Great Britain.
Saakashvili defended the decision to break up the opposition meeting in Tbilisi on November 7. “Of course, it's not very pleasant, friends, to beat them over the heads with clubs, but the government is the government,” he explained. He called the event “an imitation revolt with the goal of showing that Georgia supposedly does not hold democratic values.” Saakashvili was accompanied by former prime minister Zurab Nogaideli, who was recently replaced by Lado Gurgenidze. Saakashvili promised to make Nogaideli prime minister again after he is reelected.
The opposition is promising to begin campaigning as well. It objects to the closure of independent television channel Imedi. Labor Party supporters have even held a demonstration in front of its studios. The channel was closed down as part of a criminal case concerning an attempted coup d'etat.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 19, 2007
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