President Saakashvili is considering a Georgian version of the Putin-Medvedev scheme to maintain political power after his presidential term expires.

The new Parliament kicked off its inaugural session on June 7, a few days earlier than expected. This rush to convene left no time for opposition members to challenge the first meeting with the large-scale demonstrations they have been planning.

With the parliamentary elections less than two weeks away, Georgians are swamped with opinion poll results and left to deduce what they mean.

The voters’ concern is that in Georgia, the party traditions and culture are low and all parties are more or less dependent on their leaders. In this regard, it is enough to look through the election list submitted to the CEC.

The number of majoritarian MPs elected in single-mandate constituencies in the new parliament will increase from 50 to 75, according to the amendment, and those elected through the proportional party-list system will go down from 100 to 75.

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian foreign minister: “As a result of an agreement between the presidents, [direct] air traffic will be resumed between Russia and Georgia in the nearest future, it is expected that flights will resume from the second half of March.”

The municipal authorities in Tbilisi have refused a request by the opposition to hold a rally on Rustaveli Avenue on the day of the inauguration. Instead, the opposition alliance says it will hold a protest at the city hippodrome.

Most international observers deemed the election essentially democratic, and foreign heads of states have already called to congratulate Saakashvili on his reelection.

Some political analysts reckon that the participation of 22 candidates in such a small country is not a common thing. It means that the political responsibility of Georgian culture is too low.

As anniversaries of the events in Georgia and Ukraine approach, high hopes and great expectations have been replaced with apprehension.

Saakashvili appeared to offer a concession to his political opponents. He announced he would schedule early presidential elections, moving the vote from next autumn to January 5, 2008.

Tens of thousands of protesters have turned out in Tbilisi for the largest opposition rally since the 2003 Rose Revolution swept pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to power.

While the opposition-minded Republican Party insists on a semi-presidential model, the New Rights and others hail the idea of a constitutional monarchy.

ARCHIL GEGESHIDZE

There are several reasons behind the victory of the “United National Movement” in Georgia's parliamentary elections, which took place on May 21. One of them is that the ruling party has drawn the right conclusions from the January presidential election.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

There was a lot of electoral fraud in the parliamentary elections that took place in Georgia on May 21. Such elections do not favor the rapprochement between Georgia and NATO. At the NATO summit in Bucharest it was decided that all the Alliance members would observe the parliamentary elections in Georgia carefully.

DAVID LOSABERIDZE

The Georgia's ruling party has one serious problem – its approval rating is falling. This is due to the lack of clear strategy rather than to the unpopular reforms.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

Probably, Burjanadze thought that the President had grown weaker and she would be able to put her team on the list. But the point is that Saakashvili is unfair to his partners. At the last moment she was prohibited from doing that. Burjanadze was left alone.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

The other day Berezovsky clarified the hints which he had dropped about his moral responsibility and his wish to continue Patarkatsishvili’s work.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

I believe that the opposition and the West’s intensive efforts will make it possible to hold the forthcoming parliamentary elections in a more democratic setting than the presidential ones. But I am far from supposing that those elections will be absolutely fair. 

MALKHAZ SALDADZE

In spite of Mikheil Saakashvili’s initiative to offer the opposition politicians posts in the government, nothing was done in this direction. Apparently, neither the authorities nor the opposition were ready for such a turn.  

GHIA NODIA

Non-recognition of the presidential election results is one of the opposition’s trump cards. So, I do not think that the opposition will make serious concessions to the authorities.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

The Georgian opposition believes that Mikheil Saakashvili is not a legitimate President. Those polls were rigged everywhere. In the large regional centers Saakashvili took less than 50 percent of the vote.

KONSTANTIN GABASHVILI, IVLIAN KHAINDRAVA

"You perfectly know what the administrative resource is and can suggest what budget resources are being spent on Mr. Saakashvili’s election campaign, " said Ivlian Khaindrava.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

The “Beacon of Liberty”, that, to believe U.S. President George Bush, Georgia embodied in May 2005, when he made a visit  to the country, is dying out, even though the West does not want to believe that and continues to give Saakashvili and his government a helping hand.

SHALVA NATELASHVILI

As long as Mikheil Saakashvili stays in power, Georgia will be a superpresidential republic. So, it is necessary to elect a new President who would abolish this vicious system. But there are other questions. Which kind of a republic do we need? What powers should the President have? Who will elect him?

MALKHAZ SALDADZE

If to take into account the control of the mass media by the propresidential United National Movement and the authorities’ monopoly on the financial and administrative resources, Saakashvili’s position is more advantageous than that of his rivals.

GIGA BOKERIA

No democratic Georgian government will ever agree with Abkhazia’s independence, because in this territory a few people with the assistance of the large neighboring state and the military aggressively hoisted the flag of ethnic nationalism.

LEVAN GACHECHILADZE

When I become President, Georgia will continue to be West- and NATO-oriented. I think it is the only way for a democratic country. I am also going to give great attention to the development of good-neighborly relations with Russia.

ALEXANDER RONDELI

The Georgian people do not want destabilization of the situation. So, channeling political activity into election campaign would stabilize the situation. In short, the force that swings the presidential polls, will make it into the Parliament.  

MERAB PACHULIA

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

The international organizations severely criticize the Georgian authorities’ actions - their means of breaking up the rally and suppression of the TV channels “Imedi”, “Kavkasia”. All in all, the Georgian President has reached a deadlock. 

GHIA NODIA

Now the Georgian opposition needs a leader who can be an alternative to the current President. I doubt that the opposition’s sponsor Badri Patarkatsishvili can become such an alternative leader. Okruashvili is a more attractive political figure.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Barely had the Saakashvili’s team got rid of Okruashvili, when a much stronger opponent, oligarch Badri Patarkatsishvili, who is expected to become leader of the united opposition, came up as a new opponent to Saakashvili.  

ALEXANDER RONDELI

Irakli Okruashvili was afraid of being arrested and decided to pursue a preemptive tactic making accusations against Mikheil Saakashvili. We do not know which of his accusations are true and which are false.