Fiasco of Primary Election in Tbilisi

Opposition kills proposed primary to select one leader for Mayor’s Race.
TBILISI, Georgia - A proposed primary election in Tbilisi in March could have united a splintered opposition behind one candidate who might have offered real competition against the ruling party incumbent during the upcoming mayor’s race in May.
But in the end, an inability for the opposition parties to agree upon terms killed the measure, which would have held a special election to allow all voters to select the most popular opposition candidate in the pre-election race. It highlights the continued inability of the fractious opposition movement to exert any major participation in Georgian politics, or to be considered a serious choice among voters.

The Mayor’s race on May 30 will be the first time that Tbilisi voters will directly elect a mayor, rather than selecting a political party. The mayor must receive at least 30 percent of the vote to take office.

Right now, that means the National Movement’s current mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugalava, has the lead. Recent polls show Ugulava holds a comfortable lead against any opposition candidates. Ugulava ranks at 37.4 percent compared to the next highest candidate, opposition alliance for Georgia, Irakli Alasania, the ex-ambassador of Georgia in UNO, who polled at13.3 percent, according to a November 2009survey conducted by the Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) for the USAID-funded National Democratic Institute. The second largest group of voters, about 26 percent, was undecided, according to the poll.

That left an opening for a strong opposition candidate, according to initiator of the proposed primary,Zviad Dzidziguri, candidate for the mayor’s race and chairman of the Conservative Party. He claimed that a primary is a perfect chance to show an oppositionist leader and make united force against the government, rather than scattering the opposition vote among several opposition parties
“Now is not the time for political ambitious and conflicts among oppositionists,” he said. “The major purpose is to show a leader, the only candidate for the election of the mayor of Tbilisi.”

The supporters of the primary election’s idea were Dzidziguri’s Conservative Party, the People’s party, which was proposing Koba Davitashvili as a mayoral candidate, and The Movement for Free Georgia, which hasn’t selected its own candidate for these elections yet.

The primary never got further than discussions amongst the oppositions. Georgia’s election law contains nothing specific about primary elections, but it doesn’t prohibit them either.

If the primary had taken place, the process would be simple and familiar for voters, with a special election being organized by a special election committee appointed by the opposition parties. The Central Election Commission, which runs all elections in Georgia, would have played no part in the election.

According to the primary’s supporters, there would be the polling places in Tbilisi, there would be lists of voters, including those who are registered in Tbilisi till 2010 and every citizen should be informed about his/her registration. A special election committee, consisted of the members of participated parties, NGOs and representatives of the international organization IRAI, would have been able to count votes and present the one candidate, representing united opposition of Georgia.

The majority wasn’t excited about the idea of primary elections, but they wouldn’t have blocked it. Pavle Kublashvili, a parliamentarian for the ruling National movement party, says:

“Georgian opposition is too much separated, that it needs no prohibition by codex. Firstly the idea of primary elections seemed very ridiculous. But we are a country with a claim on democracy. So, we aren’t able to rebut politicians’ will.”

Yet in the end, it was other opposition parties who couldn’t support the measure. Several opposition parties, including Alasania’s Alliance for Georgia, claimed that a primary wouldn’t necessarily bring about a democratically elected opposition leader.

“Candidates with a good election campaign and a lot of money, could poll more than the others and the primary idea wouldn’t be able to show the real leader of opposition, selected by voters,” according to Zurab Abashidze, member of the Alliance for Georgia.

This was the party’s latest reasoning, though it’s leader, Alasania, the most popular opposition candidate who stood to gain the most from a primary election, initially supported the concept, saying it was the ”only way to bring to light the candidate’s chances in Georgia.”

But later he changed his mind, suggesting his party do polling research instead.

This has left the opposition doing what it always does during election time – challenging the credibility of the election results, a not difficult charge when reviewing Georgia’s spotty fair election record, but a strategy that hasn’t worked for them in the past, either.

Kublashvili claims that enough procedures have been set in place so that all candidates have a fair chance to win the May 30 election.

“Our oppositionists like to gossip with each other and claim that people in Tbilisi won’t be able to participate in the elections,” he said. “But there are changes in the election law that should protect voters, including the 30 percent minimum threshold, increased time of procedures of elections and to appoint opposition candidates to secretary posts..”