Saturday, October 29, 2011
Georgia: Opposition council members accuse Saakashvili’s party of McCarthyism
According to Civil.ge two opposition figures have been sacked from their posts in the Tbilisi City Council, the “Sakebrulo”, sparking cries of foul play and accusations that a political “witch hunt” is being carried out by Mikhail Saakashvili’s party, the United National Movement (UNM).
Zurab Abashidze and Victor Dolidze were deputy chairman of Sakrebulo and chairman of Sakrebulo’s commission for social affairs, respectively. Both are from Our Georgia-Free Democrats (OGFD) party, led by Irakli Alasania, who has announced about intention to closely cooperate with billionaire-turned-politician Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The reason cited by the “ruling” (UNM) party members of Sakrebulo behind their decision to sack Abashidze and Dolidze was “their failure to perform duties”.
The news first broke about the UNM intention to sack two members of OGFD from their Sakrebulo posts earlier on October 28, when the city council’s bureau endorsed the initiative for further approval at the Sakrebulo’s session.
The bureau session was marred by heated debate, which grew into verbal insults by UNM party members against opposition members, Davit Saganelidze of the New Rights Party said. Saganelidze and other opposition members of Sakrebulo walked out of the bureau meeting in protest against the ruling party’s decision.
“We asked for their arguments about why are being dismissed. There are no arguments; ‘we were watching closely during a year and you do not serve people’s interests‘ – that’s the only argument they put forth; I will say it directly, this is a Bolshevik system… this is political retaliation against us,” Zurab Abashidze, former deputy chairman of the Sakrebulo, told journalists.
“We have carried out thousands of meetings with citizens, listening to and addressing their concerns, but they [referring to UNM party members] do not care about it,” Victor Dolidze, former chairman of Sakrebulo’s commission for social affairs, said.
Jaba Samushia, member of Sakrebulo from Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM), also described in the UNM decision as “a political retaliation” against the opponents.
RD 09:41:23