| Mikheil Saakashvili is being tested by Adjara Yesterday, the High Electoral Commission of Adjara summed up the results of the June 20 parliamentary elections. The “Saakashvili – victorious Adjara” bloc received 28 mandates and the Republican Party received two more. “For the first time after Aslan Abashidze’s 12-year rule in the autonomy, people were able to vote for those they trusted,” said election commission secretary Gizo Mchedlidze.
“In the highest mountain village of Adjara, Gorjomi, which was considered a stronghold of the previous regime, people shouted with delight “Misha, Misha!” instead of the usual “Babu, Babu!” (“Babu” is “Grandfather”, that’s what Aslan Abashidze was called in Adjara. - Ed. ), - Valery Chkhartishvili, a columnist for the Adjara newspaper, tells VN. - But in general, the new leadership should think about it. Our democracy is in its infancy. The ruling party remains in Adjara with virtually no opposition and risks becoming authoritarian. Aslan Abashidze also did not suddenly and not accidentally become a dictator. First he removed the opposition from parliament, then he established unprecedented control over the media, and finally he himself believed in his own myth about his messianic destiny.”
In the center of Batumi there is an exemplary kindergarten built by Aslan Abashidze, where distinguished guests were taken on excursions. Nearby is a huge billboard with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili smiling on behalf of “Victory Adjara”. And right there, at the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the relatives and friends of the arrested armed supporters of Aslan Abashidze are trying to block the avenue, demanding a meeting with the minister. Special forces arrived and the meeting was dispersed.
All the eagles with outstretched wings, symbols of the “Union of Democratic Revival”, the ruling party of Abashidze in the autonomy, disappeared from Batumi. It is not known where even Abashidze’s beloved eagle, which he fed from his hands, went from the Batumi boulevard. Maybe he is also in Russia, where the Caucasian Basmach, the best dog of Aslan Ibrahimovic, was taken. In the enclosure on the boulevard, the eagle was replaced by a goose. “Everything is correct and in the spirit of the times,” local colleagues of the VN correspondent laugh. “The goose is an unpretentious bird, but if necessary, it’s good for roast.”
The last eagle of the Union of Democratic Revival still nests in Batumi on the building of the Kaissa club, where Abashidze hosted international chess tournaments. The new Georgian authorities did not allow Aslan Abashidze to hold the 2004 World Women's Championship in Batumi. On May 6, the former head of Adjara was sent to Moscow on the plane of the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov.
The elections in Adjara became the first test of party solidarity for the Georgian president. The exam, according to opponents, was failed. Mikheil Saakashvili received an opposition in the autonomy in the form of the Republican Party, which in Tbilisi is still united in a bloc with the presidential “National Movement”.
Republican leader David Berdzenishvili, in an interview with VN, said that Saakashvili’s National Movement behaved exactly like Abashidze’s party, completely rigging the elections. “Saakashvili failed the first test of democracy,” says Mr. Berdzenishvili. - According to our calculations, we should have three times as many deputies. One of these days our party will most likely leave the bloc with Saakashvili. A new political life will begin in Georgia in the fall. Saakashvili does not allow any pluralism. The president of the entire country comes to the provincial elections and personally leads the campaign. Isn’t this nonsense?
“I personally went to Adjara because these are not ordinary elections,” Mikheil Saakashvili answers his opponents. “We were talking about one of the significant regions that was almost drawn into a civil war.” According to the head of the election commission, Gizo Mchedlidze, talk of falsification is “complete absurdity.” “There were 111 international observers alone, no serious violations were recorded,” says Mr. Mchedlidze.
Nana, a Batumi teacher, put a small portrait of Mikheil Saakashvili on her bookshelf in the last months of Aslan Abashidze’s reign. In former Adjara this was a civil feat. Now there is a new, enlarged portrait of the president on the shelf. But Nana, like many Batumi intellectuals, voted for the Republicans. “Saakashvili’s party must have an opposition,” Nana tells a VN correspondent. “We are even a little afraid of her rating.”
Nana’s neighbor was Diana Abashidze, the daughter of the former head of the autonomy. On the day of the parliamentary elections in the autonomy, Diana flew from Moscow to celebrate the anniversary of her mother’s death. This caused a surge of emotions in Adjara. The head of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irakli Okruashvili, even stated: “Those who believe that there is no longer any fear of return and revenge from those who fled from Batumi are mistaken.”
“Everything was like a bad dream,” Nana recalls. - Suddenly, several cars appear at colossal speed - Diana and her friends. My son was playing on the street and armed people approached him. They said that they were “back” and that they were “just on vacation.” And at night they were disarmed by special forces, many were arrested. Diana, here they called her the Princess, ran away into the attics.”
The Georgian authorities released the Princess back to Moscow only after many hours of interrogation and the intercession of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Diana owns 35 companies in Adjara. The financial police demanded that she pay almost $20 million in unpaid taxes over many years. “We are not going to persecute Diana Abashidze. But Abashidze’s property is the property of the population of Adjara, and it will be confiscated,” said Mikheil Saakashvili. Before the flight, Diana herself told reporters that she categorically forbade her father to pay anything to the new Georgian authorities. Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi--Batumi |
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