Press Digest 08.07.2014

It’s a catastrophe, when a majority member holds paramount information but he cannot access the PM to share this information with him – Dato Lortkipanidze

Kakha Kukava -- I departed from politics, because …

A run-off and its potential outcome

"They could have incarcerated Gigi Ugulava long ago; thanks to the puppets of Kote Kublashvili he has enjoyed impunity thus far though. As member of the Parliament majority, Dato Lortkipanidze, states in his interview with the Alia gazette, the latest evidence against the former Mayor was so strong that the judge simply could not manage to swim against the tide,” reports the Alia gazette.

“A normal man will by all odds be reluctant to crusade against Gigi Ugulava’s detention. We all know that for years this man has performed a number of terrible misdeeds and has been engaged in hatching different corrupt schemes. Precisely this is the reason why I think that this man should have been jailed long ago; in this case, a pretext to link his imprisonment to elections would certainly not have fallen in their hands. Recently, the Nationals have not even tried to hide that they presided over the court, and against this backdrop, a verdict that did not suit them has apparently jarred their nerves. We have repeatedly focused on this issue and have repeatedly tried to pin down the reasons prompting the judges to meekly abide by the directives from the Nationals and … we have also repeatedly come to one and the same conclusion – a syndrome of impunity is simply in our judges’ blood,” maintains member of the parliament majority.

“In my mind, the investigators have dug up such strong evidence against our ex-Mayor that the Judge was simply forced to hand down a guilty verdict. Clearly though, the Nationals hoped that Gigi Ugulava would have been absolved of guilt and set free,” asserts Mr. Lortkipanidze.

“However, in the short run, the public may also turn to us with the words as follows: all right, we have seen through the corrupt Nationals’ intensions and we do know who they were. However, when it comes to you… please, tell us, what have you done for us, for the well-being of your own people? Thus, we cannot be at our ease and cannot firmly believe that the people will not pose some radical ultimatums to us. That is the reason why we must stand by one another. It’s not time for pouting… I personally place great confidence in Irakli Gharibashvili; I do respect him; however, it’s without question that he must communicate with the members of the majority more actively,” states the respondent.

“At open meetings, we cannot take the lid off our each and every plan; neither can we give away all secrets. However, I personally have never feared to tell the truth to my people… I doubt that within the majority there are a number of people who meet with Irakli Gharibashvili every now and again. Nothing is bad regarding this; however, it’s a catastrophe, when I, the majority member, hold paramount information but cannot access the PM to bring this information to the PM’s ears. I can share this acute information with the PM only. We have agreed on meeting with each other; however, we have not managed to arrange this meeting so far,” concludes Dato Lortkipanidze.

Kakha Kukava -- I departed from politics, because …

"Only cash counts nowadays – even political processes are totally dependent on it. Money rules the world and obviously, it overshadows all personal characteristics and virtues. Unfortunately, we have always lacked these financial resources and I suspect that they will never fall into our hands; precisely this fueled my intention to withdraw myself from the party,” announces former leader of Independent Georgia, Kakha Kukava.  

“The Georgian Dream and the National Movement are leading players in our political scene; other parties are simply ridiculous entities. If in our day-to-day Georgia you long to be a politician, you will have to be a marionette in the hands of others … I disengaged from politics; my party has kept doing its job though. Indisputable is the fact that in the present state of affairs when an oligarchic rule has been instilled in Georgia and when the financial agencies are vying for the title of the most lavish donor of politics and the politicians, my party will have to adopt a new strategy; otherwise the viability of my party will be under a big question mark,” maintains Mr. Kukava.

“Nowadays, everything in Georgia, including the political processes moves round financial resources; big cash overshadows all kinds of skills, personal characteristics or other assets. We have never had such big cash and precisely this pushed me to leave the party. Woe to us but politics is like a stock market in today’s Georgia; it’s literally a stock market, where different political parties are buying shares,” contends Mr. Kukava.

“The necessity of holding a run-off would have certainly surfaced because of the fact that the Georgian Dream actually cannot run circles around its political adversaries. In my mind, Mr. Narmania will meet with victory in the second round elections; however, the legitimacy of the “Dream” Government will still remain to be under a huge question mark. As you yourself have witnessed, voter turnout at these lections was catastrophically low. The people are simply reluctant to enter polling stations today, “says the respondent.

“As for the Association Agreement, undoubtedly, by sewing up this deal the country has taken a step in the right direction. However, it is also an actual fact that certain risks haunt this agreement; and the Government must take well-calculated steps to maintain the economic relations with Russia that have recently picked up. And to sum it all up, I would say that our Government views the EU integration as a trend and not as its key objective, concludes Kakha Kukava.

A run-off and its potential outcome

"After the elections, serious changes really have not been brought about in the people’s lives in Georgia; serious events apt to influence the outcome of a run-off have really not occurred within the country, maintain the specialists and add that Gigi Ugulava’s incarceration is the only serious instance that can change the final results of the elections, not substantially though. As you know, the second round elections are planned to be called for in 8 townships and 13 municipalities of Georgia. As for the voters, their number in 28 constituencies runs up to 1.715,514 in total. The CEC has already set out on making ballots; 1.605,000 of them, out of which 1.191,450 for Mayors and 413,550 for Governors, have already been published. The distribution of the voters’ cards instructing our voters which polling station to enter has already been launched… As the CEC Speaker Ekaterine Azarashvili notified journalists at yesterday’s press conference, the monitoring and media organizations can keep a close eye on the elections of 15 June without any kind of hindrance, reports the Rezonansi gazette.

“As for those cities, where run-off elections for the Mayor will be held, in the ranks of these are enlisted the cities as follows: Tbilisi, Rustavi, Mtskheta, Gori, Telavi, Ozurgeti, Batumi and Poti. In four of them, namely, in Tbilisi, Telavi, Rustavi and Batumi, the candidates of the Georgian Dream and the National Movement will contend for political power, while in Mtskheta, the candidates of the “Green party” and the Georgian Dream will grapple with each other; as for Gori, here the candidates of the Coalition and the members of “Irakli Okruashvili’s – Georgian party” will vie for superiority, whereas in Ozurgeti and Poti, the candidates of the Dream Government and the representatives of “Davit Tarkhan Mouravi – Patriotic Alliance of Georgia” will be the key opposing forces. As for the second round elections for Governor, they are expected to be conducted in the regions of Akhmeta, Kvareli, Gori, Tianeti, Martvili, Kobuleti, Baghdad, Khoni, Tkhibuli, Tkvarcheli, Lanchkhuti, Terjola, Telavi and Khoni, the article says.

“On the threshold of the elections, it’s still under a question mark whether or not the Mayoral candidates will desire to be involved in political debates live on the air. Nika Melia challenged his political rival to cross swords with him on a political talk show as early as on 24 June. Davit Narmania accepted this challenge; however, he refused to get involved in the debates with Mr. Melia live on the air and instead of this he offered the latter to arrange debates in an international format that would be organized by an unbiased international organization. However, in response to this proposal Mr. Narmania called for him to accept his offer as, in his words, the debates of an international format would have been a bit over the top … To cut it short, this issue remains befogged by mystery and only God knows whether or not these debates will be held at all,” reads the paper.

"In political expert Nika Tchitidze’s mind, political debates are unlikely to influence the final outcome of the elections. However, as per him, holding these debates is a must. ”Gigi Ugulava’s detention may boost the rating of the National Movement candidate as this party is deemed to be a victim today. Alongside this, it is also not excluded that the flow of the voters standing by the Georgian Dream will not be steady at the forthcoming second-round elections. The party’s inaptitude to overcome a 50 percent election threshold may undercut the number of its advocates. However, all this is unlikely to have a serious impact on the final results of the elections,” alleges the political expert.