Georgian government and opposition reach truce

After months of stalemate, all parties, pro-Russian and pro-Western, agree on a path of reform. The EU as arbiter. The release of the opposition leader Niki Melia is expected; elections in 2022 under certain conditions.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Representatives of the pro-Russian party in power and those of the pro-Western opposition, have signed a document entitled Georgia's way to progress which could unlock the stalemate in which the country has been held for several months. The agreement took place in the residence of the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, the palace of the Orbelian princes in Tbilisi, in the presence of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

The signatories of the document are the speaker of the parliament Archil Talakvadze and the member of the ruling party, the Georgian Dream, Shalba Papuashvili, together with the Lelo party leaders Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Dzhaparidze, leaders of the Citizens party Aleko Elisashvili, and Girchi party Vakhtang Megrelishvili, of the Girchi-Più Libertà party Zurab Dzhaparidze, of Strategija Agmashenebeli Georgij Vashadze, of the republican party Khatuna Samnidze, and the independent deputies Salome Samadashvili and David Bakradze.

Karl Hartzell, EU ambassador to Georgia, and Kelly Degnan, US ambassador were also present at the signing ceremony. Michel had presented a new plan for the solution of the Georgian political crisis the previous day. It envisages the release of the president of the unitary national movement, Niki Melia, and the co-owner of the Mtavari television channel, Georgij Rurua, two opponents imprisoned in recent months, together with a reform of the electoral system, the division of powers and the administration of justice.

Under the agreement, early parliamentary elections will be held by 2022, if the ruling Georgian Dream party does not get at least 43% of the votes in next autumn's local elections. Opponents pledge in exchange to stop the boycott of parliamentary work. Former president Mikhail Saakashvili, who currently lives in Ukraine, strongly criticized the "43% rule": "why not 50 + 1%? And who will count the votes? Those even if they take the 3, they will count 43… the devil is hiding in the details”.

It was the arrest of Melia on 23 February that threw the country into a very acute political crisis. It was carried out with violence and the use of tear gas. The president of the United Movement was accused of organizing mass violence, in which he himself allegedly participated on June 20, 2019, known as "Gavrilov's night". Melia had also refused to pay the fine imposed by the court, and the parliament had annulled her immunity as a deputy.

To avoid Melia's arrest, Prime Minister Georgij Gakharya resigned on February 18. He was replaced by Iraklij Garibashvili, who instead decided to raid the headquarters of the movement, calling Melia a "criminal". On February 26, the opposition organized a protest in the center of Tbilisi, shouting "Freedom for Niki Melia!", Waving national flags along with NATO banners. Since then, the picketing of the entrances of parliament has begun, preventing its functions, and of other government buildings, forcing politicians to pass through the "corridors of shame".

Michel's proposal for conciliation (on behalf of the EU) had provoked reactions of dismay among the men of government. President Zurabishvili finally accepted by setting a series of conditions, aimed at controlling the constitutional and electoral reform projects. Neither party seems satisfied with the compromise reached. It will be difficult for the members of Georgian Dream to digest the liberations of the opponents and participants in the "night of Gavrilov", but as Michel said with satisfaction, "finally the train has moved".