Georgian president opposes direct elections for Tbilisi mayor

Georgian State Television Channel 1, Tbilisi
22 Jun 05

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has rejected opposition calls
for a directly elected mayor in the capital Tbilisi. He told a news
conference on 22 June, which was broadcast live on Georgian TV, that
he favoured a new draft law providing for the selection of the mayor
from among the councillors representing the party that wins the
largest number of seats in Tbilisi in the local elections planned for
next year.

A directly elected mayor could be a weak figure without the support of
the council, which controls finances, and could be reduced to the role
of a “political commentator”, Saakashvili said.

He suggested that no major government reshuffles were being planned in
the near future. “Institutionalization has taken place in the sense
that there are far fewer changes now. Last year was more of a time for
experimentation, which is natural because it was a new government
then,” he said.

He announced that major infrastructure improvement projects were under
way in the hitherto neglected town of Akhalkalaki near the Armenian
border, which is populated almost exclusively by ethnic Armenians and
is home to one of the two remaining Russian military bases in Georgia.

He said that attempts were being made to facilitate the integration of
ethnic minorities into Georgian society. “We are inviting 100 of our
ethnic Armenian citizens, 100 ethnic Azeris and 50 Ossetians, if it
proves possible, to do an administration course for several
months. They will then be appointed to jobs in the customs and tax
services, police and, in general, everywhere else, so that
representatives of these ethnic groups feel that this is their
country,” he said.

Speaking about the withdrawal of the Russian company EvrazHolding from
the purchase of the Chiatura manganese mine, Saakashvili said that he
could see primarily political, rather than economic, motives behind
the move. “I think that the reasons are much more complex here and
they are linked to global politics, rather than the business of a
specific firm, let’s be honest. Don’t forget which country this firm
represents,” he said.

Saakashvili suggested that the Georgian authorities have identified a
person they suspect of unsuccessfully trying to detonate a grenade in
Tbilisi’s central square on 10 May while he and US President George
Bush were addressing the crowds there. “Someone, some despicable
person – not someone, we roughly know who it was – threw a grenade but
it did not explode. Our enemies have no luck,” he said.

A fuller report on Saakashvili’s news conference will be released
later.