| Early parliamentary elections sealed the victory of the new government Early elections to the 30-seat Supreme Council were held yesterday in Adjara. The end of Aslan Abashidze's 13-year rule in the autonomy can be considered legally formalized. At 301 voting stations, Adjarians were asked to choose deputies from representatives of eight parties and one bloc. The most influential movements are the parties “Saakashvili – victorious Adjara” and “Berdzenishvili – Republicans”. All parties must overcome the seven percent threshold. 12 majoritarians and another 18 deputies are elected to parliament using a proportional system. Preliminary results will be known today.
The true number of voters in Adjara is a big secret. The new authorities claim that Aslan Abashidze, who was proud of the new Batumi maternity hospital, artificially inflated birth rates, securing mandates for his supporters in the Georgian parliament. “Adjara does not have the 400 thousand population that Aslan Abashidze spoke about,” Simon Chkhaidze, a member of the Adjarian election commission, told a VN correspondent.
Under Aslan Abashidze, the Adjarian parliament was bicameral. The Interim Presidential Council abolished the upper house and the post of head of the autonomy, which was held by Aslan Abashidze. Now Adjara will be led by the Prime Minister of the autonomy, whose candidacy will be proposed to the local parliament by the President of Georgia. President Mikheil Saakashvili, according to him, wants to propose the candidacy of the current temporary governor of Adjara, Levan Varshalomidze. Parliament can be dissolved if it rejects the president's candidacy three times.
Mikheil Saakashvili arrived in Batumi to support his party. On June 18, the month-long period allotted for a nationwide discussion of the bill on the status of Adjara within Georgia expired. But the Council of Europe proposed submitting it to the Venice Commission for examination before approving the document. Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze agreed that the project “must pass through all relevant authorities.” As a result, parliament will return to consider the issue of Adjara’s status next Friday, June 25.
As the VN correspondent learned, after the fall of the regime of Aslan Abashidze, who left Batumi on May 6 on the plane of the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Igor Ivanov, supporters of the former leader in Adjara are being oppressed. “We are being persecuted and left without work,” says Aslan Abashidze, an employee of the staff. — A few days ago, Aslan Abashidze’s former press secretary Tamara Gudava left Adjara and flew to Russia: there were calls with threats and curses. And she is only 21 years old, she recently gave birth to a daughter.” The new authorities arrested several people close to Aslan Abashidze, including the former finance minister and the chairman of the electoral commission. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi |
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