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Caucaz,com, Georgia
Dec 2 2007
Georgian presidential election: candidate profiles
Article published in 02/12/2007 Issue
By Nicolas LANDRU in Leipzig
Translated by Lauren E. Smith
The early presidential election, declared by President Mikhail
Saakashvili in a dramatic turn of events on 8 November, will be held
in Georgia on 5 January 2008. This announcement took place the day
following the most important political confrontation the country has
known since the 2003 Rose Revolution. The state of emergency,
declared after the opposition demonstrators were dispersed, was
lifted on 16 November: now the electoral campaign can go into full
swing. However, the campaign will be without Imedi, businessman
candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili's television channel, which was the
opposition's main media platform until it was shut down by public
order forces on 7 November. On 17 November, while the other
opposition channel, Kavkasia TV, was re-established, the National
Georgian Communication Commission stripped Imedi of its broadcasting
rights for a period of 3 months.
In accordance to the constitution, Saakashvili resigned 40 days
before the date of the elections, whereas those who wished to stand
in the elections had until 27 November to register. 22 candidates bid
for the presidential election.
Mikhail Saakashvili: the outgoing president
Elected 25 January 2004 by 96% of votes on the day after the Rose
Revolution, of which he was the charismatic leader, the current
president will be 40 years old on 21 December. He is also the author
of and sets the pace for these early elections. He made a strong
campaign entrance by changing the government, which should institute
popular measures, including increases in retirements and salaries in
diverse branches. Mikhail Saakashvili finishes this troubled fall
season with his head held high, as his authority is affirmed by the 7
November demonstration of force, and because the earliness of the
presidential elections may manage to refute the anti-democracy
accusations, while following the president's, and not the
opposition's, strategy.
A fivefold State budget, economic indicators on the upswing,
reconstructed roads, diminished corruption and armed forces beyond
comparison to those of the Shevardnadze period, Saakashvili's mandate
will be an end to the country's failure to act. However, the regime
also sparked criticism due to the restructuring of various sectors,
which affected some of the dispensable and underpaid personnel,
notably in the education field. The lack of transparency accompanying
an ultra-liberal political policy of privatisations and attraction of
capital has also drawn criticism. It is also blamed for the slowness,
even the absence, of progress in certain fields that affect the
functioning even of democracy, and which figured nevertheless among
his stated objectives, firstly the independence of the judiciary and
respect of human rights.
Saakashvili enjoyed an enormous media advantage at the campaign
debut, while the opposition's main television channel is not
authorized. He also and above all has a powerful party, the National
Movement, behind him, which holds all the power's leverage devices,
and which is established perfectly in the regions. The opposition, on
the other hand, is predominantly in a position to make its voice
heard in Tbilisi.
Levan Gachechiladze: the compromise of the bloc of 9 opposition
parties
Hitherto little known by the general public, Levan Gachechiladze, 43
year-old independent jurist, is the candidate for the union of 9
opposition parties that constitute the bloc that led the November
demonstrations: the Republican Party, the Conservative Party,
`Liberty' on the far-right led by Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Salome
Zurabishvili's party `A Way for Georgia', the party of Abkhazian
refugees `On our Own', the `National Forum' led by Kakha Chartava,
the `Movement for a United Georgia' which is the militarist party of
the former minister of defence Irakli Okruashvili, the `Georgian
Troup' Party and Koba Davitashvili's People's Party.
Gachechiladze, the man, is the candidate as a result of a compromise
within a politically heterogeneous alliance, in which he does not
belong to a single party. He is one of the founders of the
organization `Georgian Wines and Liqueurs', a viticulture company and
competitor of `Telani Valley', which is affiliated with the regime.
In terms of politics, he was one of the founders of the New Rights
Party, which he separated from in 2003 due to the party's
unwillingness to support the Rose Revolution. The deputy of Vake, a
rich district in Tbilisi, he appeared during the course of 2007 in a
report by Imedi conducted on the viticulture farmers who were
suffering on account of poor economic relations with Russia.
Gachechiladze is the bearer of the institutional change wanted by the
opposition, stating that he will resign and introduce a parliamentary
regime once in power. Although this `anti-program' may be
counter-productive in the measure that the candidate is calling to be
elected to a post that he will immediately abolish, he is able to
sweep up the confidence of all those who feel the current regime is
deviating towards authoritarianism. His possibilities in terms of
communication are limited, since Imedi television is banned, and he
will have to prolong the wave of discontent triggered at the
beginning of November until January.
Badri Patarkatsishvili the oligarch: declared enemy of the
authorities
One of the richest men in Georgia, this businessman of Jewish origin
is 55 years old. He made his fortune in the 1990s in Russia as the
partner of the oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Director of several media
organizations in Russia, he established himself in Georgia in 2000
after the Kremlin had launched its anti-oligarch policy. He founded
the Imedi media organization and became the owner of a large group of
port infrastructures on the Black Sea. In 2007 his relations with the
governmental team deteriorated notably. He claimed to have been
persecuted throughout the year by the authorities, which accused him
of treason and of collaboration with Russia.
While the confrontation between the opposition and the authorities
consolidated itself in the autumn of 2007, he made a forceful
re-entry into politics, by financially supporting the opposition and
by making Imedi television more anti-governmental than ever. The
opposition bloc did not acclaim his candidacy announcement from
Israel; the opposition wished to present its own candidate. While the
tone of the government has softened towards other opponents, the
authorities remain very hostile towards the oligarch and accuse him
of having wanted to start a military coup with the help of Russia.
His campaign slogan is `A Georgia without Saakashvili and a Georgia
without terror'. The billionaire, now in politics, no longer has a
media platform and risks being arrested if he were to return to
Georgia. He enjoyed a certain popularity, which he acquired through
numerous actions of charity and patronage during the course of the
preceding years.
David Gamkrelidze: the New Rights and the Industrialists
Anti-Soviet militant turned entrepreneur aged 43 (he founded the
first Georgian insurance company `Aldagi'), Gamkrelidze has been the
leader of the Georgian liberal right since the beginning of the 2000s
and can rely on an electorate which seems loyal, as well as on his
image of political honesty. The New Rights, just as the
Industrialists of `Industry will Save Georgia', which supports the
candidate, did not participate in the November demonstrations,
claiming to be opposed to using revolutionary methods to change
power, while themselves conforming to the democratic scheme. They
didn't participate in the Rose Revolution either, but they are the
only non-revolutionary party to have surpassed the 7% mark in the
2004 elections.
Chalva Natelashvili from the Labour Party: a pardoned `putschist'
The leader of the Georgian far-left at 49 years of age, Natelashvili
is an opposition veteran in Georgia. His Labour Party, founded in
1995 to incessantly denounced populist undertones, was the first
opposition party under Shevardnadze. The most virulent among the
demonstrators, he was with the far right of Gamsakhurdia, the first
target of the government's angry response the day following 7
November 2007. The authorities published sound and video documents in
which he is apparently plotting with Russian diplomats. The police
occupied the party's general district and Natelashvili went missing.
Saakashvili said a few days later that he had telephoned the Workers'
leader, hidden in a basement, had pardoned him and had authorized him
to participate in the elections. The electoral record of the Labour
Party was 5.8% in March 2004.
Candidates from the small parties
Besides the preferred candidates and those from the liberal right and
the far-left, we must still count on the traditional candidacy of the
leaders of the small parties.
The Green Party, having hitherto obtained very modest scores, stated
that its candidate Giorgi (Gia) Gachechiladze, homonym of but
unrelated to Levan, will run.
The economist Gia Maisashvili, a former ally of Saakashvili, founded,
in August 2007, his `Party of the Future', independent and of liberal
national orientation, and has since then announced his candidacy and
maintained it to the day before the announcement of the early
elections.
Irina Sarishvili leads the IMEDI Party (Hope, not to be confused with
the media organisation), affiliated with the former chief of security
Igor Giorgadze. Giorgadze is a refugee in Russia and the Georgian
authorities accuse him of being an agent for the Kremlin's circles.
IMEDI participated in the November demonstrations, but did not take
part in the opposition bloc, remaining independent, anti-Western and
pro-Russian.
The party `Forward Georgia' (Tsin Sakartvelo), also a participant in
the opposition demonstrations, regroups former collaborators of the
previous president Edward Shevardnadze and presents its own
candidate, Temur Shashiashvili.
Independent bids
Other members of the former `Shevardnadze' Clan will also run the
election: Giorgi Shervashidze, the commander of interior troops in
Shevardnadze's government and Avtandil Margiani, who served as the
deputy prime minister in the early 90s under Shevardnadze.
Kartlos Garibashvili, a lawyer who also participated in previous
presidential elections, will run the election as an independent
candidate.
The 10 other candidates are politically unknown. Their list includes
Giorgi Korganashvili, Levan Kidzinadze, Tamaz Bibiluri, Shalva
Kuprashvili, Shalva Tsertsvadze, Giorgi Gakhokidze, Gia Chkhikvadze,
Archil Ioseliani, Avtandil Pilauri and Fazil Aliyev, an ethnic Azeri
from Georgia who runs the election in order to represent his
community. No other member of an ethnic minority such as Armenians,
Russians or Kurds, will run for the Georgia presidency, whereas an
ethnic Armenian and an ethnic Russian were running the 2004
presidential poll.
Dec 2 2007
Georgian presidential election: candidate profiles
Article published in 02/12/2007 Issue
By Nicolas LANDRU in Leipzig
Translated by Lauren E. Smith
The early presidential election, declared by President Mikhail
Saakashvili in a dramatic turn of events on 8 November, will be held
in Georgia on 5 January 2008. This announcement took place the day
following the most important political confrontation the country has
known since the 2003 Rose Revolution. The state of emergency,
declared after the opposition demonstrators were dispersed, was
lifted on 16 November: now the electoral campaign can go into full
swing. However, the campaign will be without Imedi, businessman
candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili's television channel, which was the
opposition's main media platform until it was shut down by public
order forces on 7 November. On 17 November, while the other
opposition channel, Kavkasia TV, was re-established, the National
Georgian Communication Commission stripped Imedi of its broadcasting
rights for a period of 3 months.
In accordance to the constitution, Saakashvili resigned 40 days
before the date of the elections, whereas those who wished to stand
in the elections had until 27 November to register. 22 candidates bid
for the presidential election.
Mikhail Saakashvili: the outgoing president
Elected 25 January 2004 by 96% of votes on the day after the Rose
Revolution, of which he was the charismatic leader, the current
president will be 40 years old on 21 December. He is also the author
of and sets the pace for these early elections. He made a strong
campaign entrance by changing the government, which should institute
popular measures, including increases in retirements and salaries in
diverse branches. Mikhail Saakashvili finishes this troubled fall
season with his head held high, as his authority is affirmed by the 7
November demonstration of force, and because the earliness of the
presidential elections may manage to refute the anti-democracy
accusations, while following the president's, and not the
opposition's, strategy.
A fivefold State budget, economic indicators on the upswing,
reconstructed roads, diminished corruption and armed forces beyond
comparison to those of the Shevardnadze period, Saakashvili's mandate
will be an end to the country's failure to act. However, the regime
also sparked criticism due to the restructuring of various sectors,
which affected some of the dispensable and underpaid personnel,
notably in the education field. The lack of transparency accompanying
an ultra-liberal political policy of privatisations and attraction of
capital has also drawn criticism. It is also blamed for the slowness,
even the absence, of progress in certain fields that affect the
functioning even of democracy, and which figured nevertheless among
his stated objectives, firstly the independence of the judiciary and
respect of human rights.
Saakashvili enjoyed an enormous media advantage at the campaign
debut, while the opposition's main television channel is not
authorized. He also and above all has a powerful party, the National
Movement, behind him, which holds all the power's leverage devices,
and which is established perfectly in the regions. The opposition, on
the other hand, is predominantly in a position to make its voice
heard in Tbilisi.
Levan Gachechiladze: the compromise of the bloc of 9 opposition
parties
Hitherto little known by the general public, Levan Gachechiladze, 43
year-old independent jurist, is the candidate for the union of 9
opposition parties that constitute the bloc that led the November
demonstrations: the Republican Party, the Conservative Party,
`Liberty' on the far-right led by Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Salome
Zurabishvili's party `A Way for Georgia', the party of Abkhazian
refugees `On our Own', the `National Forum' led by Kakha Chartava,
the `Movement for a United Georgia' which is the militarist party of
the former minister of defence Irakli Okruashvili, the `Georgian
Troup' Party and Koba Davitashvili's People's Party.
Gachechiladze, the man, is the candidate as a result of a compromise
within a politically heterogeneous alliance, in which he does not
belong to a single party. He is one of the founders of the
organization `Georgian Wines and Liqueurs', a viticulture company and
competitor of `Telani Valley', which is affiliated with the regime.
In terms of politics, he was one of the founders of the New Rights
Party, which he separated from in 2003 due to the party's
unwillingness to support the Rose Revolution. The deputy of Vake, a
rich district in Tbilisi, he appeared during the course of 2007 in a
report by Imedi conducted on the viticulture farmers who were
suffering on account of poor economic relations with Russia.
Gachechiladze is the bearer of the institutional change wanted by the
opposition, stating that he will resign and introduce a parliamentary
regime once in power. Although this `anti-program' may be
counter-productive in the measure that the candidate is calling to be
elected to a post that he will immediately abolish, he is able to
sweep up the confidence of all those who feel the current regime is
deviating towards authoritarianism. His possibilities in terms of
communication are limited, since Imedi television is banned, and he
will have to prolong the wave of discontent triggered at the
beginning of November until January.
Badri Patarkatsishvili the oligarch: declared enemy of the
authorities
One of the richest men in Georgia, this businessman of Jewish origin
is 55 years old. He made his fortune in the 1990s in Russia as the
partner of the oligarch Boris Berezovsky. Director of several media
organizations in Russia, he established himself in Georgia in 2000
after the Kremlin had launched its anti-oligarch policy. He founded
the Imedi media organization and became the owner of a large group of
port infrastructures on the Black Sea. In 2007 his relations with the
governmental team deteriorated notably. He claimed to have been
persecuted throughout the year by the authorities, which accused him
of treason and of collaboration with Russia.
While the confrontation between the opposition and the authorities
consolidated itself in the autumn of 2007, he made a forceful
re-entry into politics, by financially supporting the opposition and
by making Imedi television more anti-governmental than ever. The
opposition bloc did not acclaim his candidacy announcement from
Israel; the opposition wished to present its own candidate. While the
tone of the government has softened towards other opponents, the
authorities remain very hostile towards the oligarch and accuse him
of having wanted to start a military coup with the help of Russia.
His campaign slogan is `A Georgia without Saakashvili and a Georgia
without terror'. The billionaire, now in politics, no longer has a
media platform and risks being arrested if he were to return to
Georgia. He enjoyed a certain popularity, which he acquired through
numerous actions of charity and patronage during the course of the
preceding years.
David Gamkrelidze: the New Rights and the Industrialists
Anti-Soviet militant turned entrepreneur aged 43 (he founded the
first Georgian insurance company `Aldagi'), Gamkrelidze has been the
leader of the Georgian liberal right since the beginning of the 2000s
and can rely on an electorate which seems loyal, as well as on his
image of political honesty. The New Rights, just as the
Industrialists of `Industry will Save Georgia', which supports the
candidate, did not participate in the November demonstrations,
claiming to be opposed to using revolutionary methods to change
power, while themselves conforming to the democratic scheme. They
didn't participate in the Rose Revolution either, but they are the
only non-revolutionary party to have surpassed the 7% mark in the
2004 elections.
Chalva Natelashvili from the Labour Party: a pardoned `putschist'
The leader of the Georgian far-left at 49 years of age, Natelashvili
is an opposition veteran in Georgia. His Labour Party, founded in
1995 to incessantly denounced populist undertones, was the first
opposition party under Shevardnadze. The most virulent among the
demonstrators, he was with the far right of Gamsakhurdia, the first
target of the government's angry response the day following 7
November 2007. The authorities published sound and video documents in
which he is apparently plotting with Russian diplomats. The police
occupied the party's general district and Natelashvili went missing.
Saakashvili said a few days later that he had telephoned the Workers'
leader, hidden in a basement, had pardoned him and had authorized him
to participate in the elections. The electoral record of the Labour
Party was 5.8% in March 2004.
Candidates from the small parties
Besides the preferred candidates and those from the liberal right and
the far-left, we must still count on the traditional candidacy of the
leaders of the small parties.
The Green Party, having hitherto obtained very modest scores, stated
that its candidate Giorgi (Gia) Gachechiladze, homonym of but
unrelated to Levan, will run.
The economist Gia Maisashvili, a former ally of Saakashvili, founded,
in August 2007, his `Party of the Future', independent and of liberal
national orientation, and has since then announced his candidacy and
maintained it to the day before the announcement of the early
elections.
Irina Sarishvili leads the IMEDI Party (Hope, not to be confused with
the media organisation), affiliated with the former chief of security
Igor Giorgadze. Giorgadze is a refugee in Russia and the Georgian
authorities accuse him of being an agent for the Kremlin's circles.
IMEDI participated in the November demonstrations, but did not take
part in the opposition bloc, remaining independent, anti-Western and
pro-Russian.
The party `Forward Georgia' (Tsin Sakartvelo), also a participant in
the opposition demonstrations, regroups former collaborators of the
previous president Edward Shevardnadze and presents its own
candidate, Temur Shashiashvili.
Independent bids
Other members of the former `Shevardnadze' Clan will also run the
election: Giorgi Shervashidze, the commander of interior troops in
Shevardnadze's government and Avtandil Margiani, who served as the
deputy prime minister in the early 90s under Shevardnadze.
Kartlos Garibashvili, a lawyer who also participated in previous
presidential elections, will run the election as an independent
candidate.
The 10 other candidates are politically unknown. Their list includes
Giorgi Korganashvili, Levan Kidzinadze, Tamaz Bibiluri, Shalva
Kuprashvili, Shalva Tsertsvadze, Giorgi Gakhokidze, Gia Chkhikvadze,
Archil Ioseliani, Avtandil Pilauri and Fazil Aliyev, an ethnic Azeri
from Georgia who runs the election in order to represent his
community. No other member of an ethnic minority such as Armenians,
Russians or Kurds, will run for the Georgia presidency, whereas an
ethnic Armenian and an ethnic Russian were running the 2004
presidential poll.