Georgian political analysts treat "peace memorandum" of ruling party as senseless

The ruling "Georgian Dream" Party has offered its opponents to sign a memorandum, which would guarantee the non-interference of participants of the parliamentary race into each other's campaigns, in order to avoid incidents. The document is formal and does not guarantee the parties' refusal to hold protest actions after the elections, political analysts believe.

The draft memorandum stipulates that the participants in the elections recognize "the peaceful elections as a prerequisite for the political consolidation and country's democratic development."

Some oppositional decided not to sign the document, namely: the "United National Movement" (UNM), the "Labour Party", the "National Forum" and the block "Paata Burchuladze – State for People", whole others – the "Republican Party", the "Free Democrats", the "United Democratic Movement" and the "Alliance of Patriots" – have signed the memorandum.

According to Zaal Andjaparidze, a political analyst, Georgian authorities have decided to "make themselves safe in the eyes of local and international community," in particular, against accusations of using administrative resources to ensure victory at the elections.

He has treated the reason for the refusal of some of the parties to sign the memorandum as "the probability of their protests, if they find election outcomes falsified."

According to Tornike Sharashenidze, an expert of the "International Centre for Geopolitical Studies", the "Georgian Dream" Party had initiated the memorandum in order to "look like absolute democracy in the eyes of Europe and the USA."

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.