In a long-expected move, Georgian Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze announced on January 24 a large-scale cabinet reorganization.

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.

The foreign policy priorities of the presidential candidates. Most put Euro-Atlantic and NATO integration front and center, but good relations with Russia is, for some, another major consideration.

Georgian voters will have to answer a question if Georgia should become a member of NATO at the January 5th plebiscite, which will be held alongside the presidential poll.

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.

With Georgia gearing up for a presidential election campaign in January and a degree of normality returning after the recent crisis, the Imedi television station remains at the centre of national and international controversy.

In independent Georgia’s history, this will be the first election where voters will be asked to focus on the programs, slogans and promises of the candidates.

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

In an apparent bid to reduce potential support for opposition candidates in Georgia’s upcoming special presidential election, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili is reshuffling his government.

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.

Thousands of peoples took to the streets last week to protest Okruashvili’s arrest and the demonstrations are likely to continue this week.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Mikheil Saakashvili once again extends hand of friendship to Russia and proposes to “turn over a new leaf” in bilateral relations.

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.  

SERGEI MARKEDONOV

It is unlikely that after the election President Mikheil Saakashvili has changed his position on Georgian-Russian relations. For the time being, the statements about his wish to normalize those relations cannot be taken seriously.

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.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Mikheil Saakashvili who is seeking re-election to the second term in office as President of Georgia must be very lucky. The resolution of the issue concerning recognition of Kosovo’s independence by the West, which was due on December 10, has been postponed, even if not for long.

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.

GIORGI TARGAMADZE

The Georgian government continues to put serious pressure on the journalists, editors and producers of the “IMEDI” company. Officials are using all the ways, for example, blackmailing and intimidating of the people including their relatives and families.

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.

SERGEI MARKEDONOV

There is no alternative to the incumbent president Mikheil Saakashvili in the forthcoming presidential polls in Georgia. Like it or not, he stands to win the forthcoming elections. The opposition cannot compete with Saakashvili. 

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.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Irakli Okruashvili may use his arrest as the political dividend that he lacked until recently. Now he is unlikely to be reproached for the implicit connections with the authorities, as it was often done in recent times.