GEORGIA: SOME NON-PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES COME OFF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 001755

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: SOME NON-PARLIAMENTARY PARTIES COME OFF
THE STREETS, JOIN ELECTION LEGISLATION WORKING GROUP,
ANNOUNCE MAYORAL CANDIDATE

REF: TBILISI 0523

Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES A.I. KENT D. LOGSDON FOR REASONS 1.4 (
B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary/Comment: Members of the Irakli Alasania-led
Alliance for Georgia, Republican (represented by David
Berznenishvili) and New Rights (represented by Mamuka
Katsitadze) Parties followed political ally Irakli Alasania's
earlier lead and joined the National Democratic Institute
(NDI) sponsored Election Legislation Working Group (ELWG) on
September 21. The meeting itself provided little substantive
agreement and much of the time was spent debating various
modalities, but the inclusion of two more non-parliamentary
opposition parties is a positive development. Once again,
Alasania appears to have played a constructive role behind
the scenes, convincing the New Rights party that presenting
an ultimatum to the ELWG in its initial appearance would be
counterproductive. Moreover, Alasania and Christian
Democratic Leader, Giorgi Targamadze are working together to
some degree to coordinate their positions, which might
provide a positive, moderate impetuous to push the sometimes
rancorous process forward. Additionally, Alasania announced
on September 22, that he would run for Tbilisi mayor and
added former Ombudsman Sozar Subari to his political team.
End Summary/Comment.

New Rights and Republicans Join - Loathe to Give up Old Ways


2. (C) According to NDI Chief of Party Luis Navarro
(strictly protect) negotiations were ongoing right up until
the last minute as to whether and how New Rights and
Republicans were going to enter the ELWG. New Rights
initially wanted to present an ultimatum to the group
proposing that opposition members not negotiate with the
ruling United National Movement (UNM) until they had agreed
on a consensus position. Only when a mutually agreed upon
consensus among the opposition was formed would they
negotiate with the ruling UNM. Navarro told Emboff that he
was contacted by a very concerned Speaker David Bakradze, who
had caught wind of the ultimatum and believed that New Rights
was trying to scuttle the whole process. Navarro contacted
Alasania and passed on Bakradze's (and others') concerns
about New Rights' intentions. Alasania ultimately convinced
New Rights that a confrontational approach with ultimatums
was unhelpful. New Rights presented its proposal simply as
food for thought, rather than a precondition to its
participation.

Alasania Making His Move


3. (C) In the backdrop to the ELWG, both Irakli Alasania
and Giorgi Targamadze told Poloff that they had been in
regular communication to coordinate their positions on the
upcoming municipal elections (scheduled for May 2010) as well
as other issues. IRI Chief of Party, Andrea Keerbs (strictly
protect) told Poloff that Alasania only discussed New Rights
and the Republicans as an afterthought if at all. Likewise,
she said that New Rights and the Republicans were focused on
their own party building. Navarro told Poloff that the
Targamadze-Alasania discussions presented an interesting
dynamic, potentially with the ability to drive a reform
process forward. The UNM preferred a divide and conquer
political strategy which would be much harder to achieve if
the two most credible opposition leaders, one inside and one
outside of parliament, presented a unified front on issues.
Secondly, other more radical opposition leaders would be
QSecondly, other more radical opposition leaders would be
under pressure to join any Targamadze-Alasania agreement lest
they be rendered even more obsolete and discredited as viable
political actors. Navarro noted that joining any agreed
Targamadze-Alasania initiative would be a tacit admission of
accepting a subservient role that, in his opinion, would be a
tough pill for many politicians to swallow.


4. (C) Alasania followed up on his political momentum after
convincing New Rights and the Republicans to join the ELWG by
announcing his candidacy for mayor of Tbilisi in upcoming
elections in 2010. The announcement made him the first major
player to throw his hat into the ring. Alasania's
announcement also included the news that former Ombudsman,
Sozar Subari would be joining Alasania's political party (Our
Georgia - Free Democrats) and would be the party's candidate
for Tbilisi city council chairman in the same 2010 local
elections. (Embassy Comment: Subari's announcement was not
a surprise to most political observers, but represents a good
"get" for Alasania and helps broaden the image of the party
beyond its "diplomats" foundation. End Comment.) Alasania
also welcomed former presidential candidate Levan
Gachechiladze's political ally Koka Guntsadze to his party.

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Alasania apparently did not consult with other opposition
members before announcing his intentions. Other opposition
leaders remained largely silent on the matter. The
Conservative Party responded that it supported a primary
system to pick a single opposition candidate for Tbilisi
mayor.

ELWG, OK - Let's Agree to Argue


5. (U) The first hour or so of the Working Group was
dominated by discussion of the New Rights suggestion that all
opposition parties should have one unified position on the
election code and then negotiate with the UNM. A number of
participants noted that such an approach would likely render
the ELWG process moot. A general agreement was finally
reached that opposition parties were free to negotiate among
themselves on the side but the NDI format for the ELWG should
be maintained and followed. The next question to be debated
was whether the Alliance for Georgia, made up of the Our
Georgia - Free Democrats, New Rights and Republicans should
get one vote as an Alliance or three as individual parties
and if a vote was needed to accept the Republicans and New
Rights as members. The ELWG ultimately decided that no vote
was needed because, in principle, the only requirement to
enter the ELWG was to sign the code of conduct and attend the
meetngs. The number of votes the Alliance should receive
was not decided as the group chose to move on and discuss
other issues.


6. (U) Jondi Baghaturia (Georgia's Troupe) who was serving
as the chairman proposed his idea for party funding which
would consist of a funding cap, 50 percent of which would be
funded by the state budget, the other would have to be raised
individually by the parties themselves. UNM representatives
MP Akaki Minashvili (Chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee) and MP Pavle Kublashvili (Chairman of the Legal
Affairs Committee) said that the UNM would not accept a
funding cap and that revisiting the question of government
funding was a pointless exercise since the budgetary outlays
to parties had already been made. The debate continued with
the UNM representatives holding firm to their position so no
consensus was reached.


7. (C) Finally, the UNM gave its proposal for upcoming
local elections. Kublashvili explained that the format for
local elections would not be changed in the regions, only in
Tbilisi. Tbilisi would be divided into 27 districts of equal
numbers of voters. The districts would be single mandate
districts with no first round threshold to form the city
council. The opposition parties objected and suggested that
a 50 percent threshold should be imposed. (Embassy Comment:
The opposition objection to a threshold is largely to save
them from themselves, knowing that the fractured opposition
would run numerous candidates who would split the vote,
likely giving a plurality to UNM candidates in most
districts. End Comment.) After some discussion, most of the
opposition figures agreed that the threshold question could
be negotiated and that 30 percent to one-third of the vote
could be agreed upon if other issues were addressed. When
challenged on why only local elections in Tbilisi would be
changed from the previous format, Kublashvili answered that
if mayors were directly elected they would be too focused on
politics rather than the nuts and bolts of administrating a
city. Kublashvili explained that in Tbilisi politics could
Qcity. Kublashvili explained that in Tbilisi politics could
not be avoided so a directly elected mayor was acceptable --
an explanation which did not appear to satisfy anybody in the
room. (Embassy Comment: The UNM's explanation as to why the
Tbilisi model was not appropriate for other areas hardly
passed the straight face test. The UNM will likely use the
expansion of its proposed Tbilisi model to the regions as a
bargaining chip. End Comment.)

Up Next


8. (U) The ELWG agreed to reconvene on Friday, September 25
and decided that the agenda will consist of a discussion on
the election of the Chairman of the Electoral Commission,
local election processes and voter list compilation.
LOGSDON