Terrorists Mar Georgian Elections
Parliamentary elections took place in Georgia yesterday. They were held with voting violations, murder and a terrorist act. The opposition has accused the authorities of planning to destabilize the country and took to the streets of Tbilisi at night. The authorities accused Russia of creating provocations. Kommersant correspondent Olga Allenova and Georgy Dvali have the details from Tbilisi.
The President Makes an Appearance
They had waited for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at polling station No. 19 since 9:00 in the morning. Journalists had taken over the small space. The procedure for voting was simple: voters’ palms were marked with invisible ink, they were given a ballot, they filled them out and dropped them in the box. Then they went out onto the street and haughtily refused to speak to reporters. It was obvious why 40 percent of voter effused to participate in polls, and why tension mounted hour after hour throughout the day, in spite of pollsters’ reports that the ruling party was receiving 50 percent of the vote and the united opposition 12-17 percent.
At polling station No. 19, all was clam. There were observers from all the political parties, although they were unneeded – it was the most orderly polling station in the whole country. At noon, the Central Elections Commission announced that voter turnout had already reached 22 percent. That was more than in the presidential election. Around 1:00, the security people started moving around, and the president’s cortege pulled up several minutes later. The president remained in his car for several minutes and got out talking on a telephone. He was in a visibly bad mood. But he smiled standing on the street and entered the polling station with his wife Sandra.
Ballot Box Briefing
There was an almost theatrical silence as the president prepared to vote. Laughter broke out as he suggested to his wife that they enter the voting booth together. Georgians appreciate masculine humor. When they had voted, the president took questions. He said the elections should be exemplary, since there were both friends and enemies watching them. He said that the country had a lot of external problems, but “this is a democratic country and the holding of fair elections is a matter of honor for Georgian democracy.” Then the president switched to English and said that there would be a multiparty parliament. That was why they lowered the minimum amount of votes to enter it from 7 percent to 5 percent. Together, all the parties would work toward Euro-integration. That was a reminder that, whatever their differences, the parties had common goals as well. He promised to address the parliament every quarter and take questions freely. That was also addressed to the opposition. Then, in Russia, Saakashvili said that the latest events in Abkhazia were connected with the election campaign and the crisis would end now that it was over.
All Georgian television channels showed him saying at the polling station, “Our aggressive neighbor is offering the conflict zones rusty tanks and full control over their property and fate. We offer them an open democratic system, a free economy and chances for all of society, not just a group of people. This shows once again that Georgia is a country open to all ethnic groups.”
Murder as a Pretext for War
After the president left, we found out what had ruined his mood, as the first reports of the murder of United Opposition activist Geronty Katsia in Tsalenjikha District came in.
“He was shot with a hunting rifle on the way to the polling station,” opposition leader David Gamkrelidze stated. “That’s how the authorities fight us.”
“It was an ordinary criminal act,” countered representative of the ruling party David Barkadze. “It is immoral to use that murder for political purposes.”
The Central Elections Commission issues a strongly-worded statement urging voters to “remain calm and not give in to the opposition’s provocative calls.” But everyone understood that the opposition had been given serious motivation for a nighttime meeting and that the elections were not fated to be calm.
Shalva Pichkhadze, head of the NGO Georgia in NATO told journalists at the headquarters of the united opposition, “The murder of an opposition member could end very badly for everyone. We had to hold normal elections for the future of the country! It was the only condition NATO set for us!” Pichkhadze said that, in Samegrelo District, “200 unknown persons destroyed polling stations.” He said the same thing happened in Marneuli as well. “The police are applying unprecedented pressure on people. They attack our observers and no one can help them,” he added.
At that moment, Gamkrelidze came in. He said that Koba Davitashvili, leader of the opposition People’s Party, and several journalists from Rustavi 2 television station were beaten in Zugdidi.
“That’s very bad,” said Pichkhadze. “A huge crowd will come out at night and simply sweep the government aside. It’s practically the beginning of battle actions.”
The Russian Connection
The most shocking news was a different incident in Zugdidi District. Two busloads of ethnic Georgians came there from Gali District in Abkhazia to vote. The buses had barely crossed the Abkhazian-Georgian border when they exploded. Genuine panic broke out in Georgia. New footage from the scene of the incident was shown on television every half hour. Commentators said emotionally that people who had been living for years on a powder keg in Gali could not count on the protection of the government even in areas it controlled. The authorities were forced to make a statement.
“The event is a provocation by the separatists and their protectors,” David Bakradze, a leader in the ruling party stated on the air, obviously referring to Abkhazia and Russia. “This case is evidence of the need for unity among all patriotic forces in the interests of the country.”
Georgian Minister of Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili called the incident “terrorism.” Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili asked “Where were the Russian peacekeepers who were supposed to protect the civilian population?” It was clear that they were hinting that Russia took part in destabilizing the situation in Georgia to obstruct the elections.
At the office of the ruling National Movement, they tried to look happy and certain of their victory, like their president. The parliamentarians were less successful than their president. An hour later, New Right leader Gamkrelidze summed up the situation. “They aren’t democratic elections any more,” he said. “They won’t let us into NATO with elections like these.”
Olga Allenova, Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi.
All the Article in Russian as of May 22, 2008
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