TBILISI - Georgians elect a parliament on Monday with tension high after a prison abuse scandal that has turned the vote into the biggest test of President Mikheil Saakashvili's grip on the Caucasus Mountain nation in nearly a decade in power.
Saakashvili, a pro-Western leader who swept to the
presidency after the bloodless Rose Revolution of 2003 and
fought a five-day war with Russia in 2008, hopes to head off a
challenge led by a once-reclusive tycoon with a fortune nearly
half the size of the former Soviet republic’s economy.
He must step down after a presidential vote next year, when
constitutional changes will weaken the role of head of state
giving more power to parliament and the prime minister.
That may give Saakashvili, 44, a way to remain in charge of
the country of 4.5 million, an important gas and oil transit
route to the West, if his United National Movement retains its
dominance of parliament.
Many Georgians just want political and economic stability.
The economy, hit by the 2008 war and the global financial
crisis, has been growing again since 2010 but inflation is high
again and is likely to hit 6-7 percent this year.
For Saakashvili’s main rival, billionaire Bidzina
Ivanishvili, the election is a high-stakes election debut.
“Besides being a contest for parliament, it is also a shadow
leadership election,” said Thomas de Waal, a Caucasus expert at
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He
said the vote “marks a turning point for Georgia”.
UPHILL STRUGGLE
Ivanishvili, 56, and his six-party Georgian Dream movement
face an uphill battle to wrest control from the ruling party,
but grim video footage showing the abuse and rape of inmates at
a Tbilisi prison has increased their chances.
The video aired on two channels opposed to Saakashvili, one
of which is owned by Ivanishvili, and has undermined the
president’s projected image as a reformer who imposed the rule
of law and rooted out post-Soviet corruption.
The controversy has helped Ivanishvili make the case that
Saakashvili has become an undemocratic leader who tramples
rights and freedoms, and could help win over the large group of
Georgians who summertime polls showed were undecided.
The prison scandal led to street protests and heated
rhetoric which included Saakashvili trading barbs with Georgia’s
powerful neighbour Russia, which during the 2008 war
strengthened its control of the breakaway regions of South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, which make up about one-fifth of the small
country’s territory.
Saakashvili’s supporters say the election could determine
whether Georgia moves closer to Russia or remains a staunch U.S.
ally. They accuse Ivanishvili, who made much of his money in
Russia, of being a Kremlin stooge, a charge he denies.
THE BALLOT BOX OR THE STREETS
Concerns about post-election have triggered calls for
restraint from the West, which wants a stable Georgia because of
its role as a conduit for Caspian Sea energy supplies to Europe
and its location between Russia, Iran, Turkey and Central Asia.
“Political leaders should be chosen through the ballot box
and not on the streets,” parliamentary delegation heads from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council
of Europe, NATO and the European Parliament said on Saturday.
Ivanishvili told a rally on Saturday “this regime’s hours
are numbered”, but has also said Georgian Dream would accept any
outcome deemed legitimate by international observers.
A poll by the U.S. National Democratic Institute in August
gave UNM 37 percent support against 12 percent for Georgian
Dream but showed 43 percent of respondents could vote either
way. There have been no major polls since the abuse scandal.
Elected in 2004 after the Rose Revolution protests toppled
President Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister,
Saakashvili cultivated close ties with Europe and the United
States and sought to bring Georgia into NATO.
He also clamped down on police bribe-taking, made frequent
power outages a thing of the past and presided over an economic
resurgence before Georgia was hit by the global financial crisis
and a 2008 war with Russia.
But opponents say he has curbed democracy, persecuting
opponents, pressuring courts and controlling the media, and he
faces criticism for leading Georgia into the 2008 war with
Moscow in which Russian forces routed his army.
