Authorities against early elections

One of the main program clauses of many oppositional parties in Georgia are early elections. It goes without saying the official authorities are totally against it. Today this issue was commented by Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava.

"In conditions of economic crisis every tiny bit of money must be spent on people's needs and not on politicians", - he said live on Georgia's 1st channel.

According to the mayor the elections are a luxury. They need serious funds. Last year the elections were held twice and by 2010 the local elections are planned. In this situation additional elections are not justified, Ugulava believes. "We will not allow insulting our people and we'll not be like a squirrel spinning the wheel", - he noted.

It will be remembered that it is not the first speak-out of the official authorities on the point.

In mid December Georgia's president Mikheil Saakashvili was quite severe on the opposition's appeals for early parliamentary and presidential elections.

"It would be the silliest thing to do", - he stated at his meeting with the journalists. -I'm not going to explode Georgia because a group of oppositional politicians that were elected refuse to enter the current parliament and are trying to find themselves an occupation".

Saakashvili specified that the election routine would take at least 1-1.5 billion lari. "This money had better be spent on people's needs and not on politicians". He emphasized that the presidential elections will be held in 2013 and to soothe the opposition he added: "In 2013 the term of my powers will expire and I won't run for the third term".

However the opposition is not happy with this presentation of the problem. For instance conservatives believe the last presidential election results were fabricated and they are going to apply to international court.

According to the statement disseminated in connection with 5 January election anniversary they were held in the atmosphere of complete falsification leading to substitution of objective results and illegal proclamation of Mikheil Saakashvili as the winner.

"Regardless of hundreds of complaints and claims that have been put into Georgia's authorities of inquiry since the election day, a year later none of the claims has been considered: no election committee member has been penalized, no falsified minute has been abolished, and moreover the inquest has asked for no material evidence. Most violations were reflected in the OSCE final report but their recommendations have not been followed by Georgia's government", - the conservatives emphasize.

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