Political expert Ramaz Sakvarelidze talked about presidential candidates and presidential elections. Georgian Journal offers his ides on how he sees presidential elections from hot summer perspective.
Q. Nearly all presidential candidates are known and there is no expectation that new candidate will change the situation as we see it right now. What do you think about this issue?
A. As far as I know, Salome Zurabishvili has some problems of registering her candidacy legally. If this problem is solved and if Salome appears on the scene, the picture will be changed. Salome is a heavyweight politician and she is a fitting candidate for this post, taking into account her experience in foreign relations, since one of the main duties of the president is to represent country on foreign diplomatic scene. This field is customary for her and electorate often underlines this. They are talking about the inexperience of Margvelashvili in active politics and they even raise a question whether Margvelashvili is a politician. First of all, he is a politician by his character and reactions. We saw that he has ability to make fast decisions in concrete situations; also he has sense of time and he can do many things during short period of time. He is good at taking discussions too: with his educational background he has no problems with it. As for his honesty, he is one of the most honest politicians, whom I’ve seen and this trait is very important for the position of the president – if the president is entangled in the intrigues, it can lead country to the crisis.
Q. How do you see chances of Davit Bakradze?
A. Personally, Bakradze looks the best in his team. He earned this reputation because he is not aggressive, which cannot be said about other members of National Movement. He has a peaceful tone and constructive image. But despite his peaceful image, Bakradze is the door for the National Movement to enter the governing body and to empower his party. That’s why I doubt that people will give needed number of votes to him for winning.
Q. If some part of the voters is looking for third power to vote in its favor, who can take votes of people who don’t sympathize either with Georgian Dream or National Movement?
A. In that case, I would discuss the candidacy of Nino Burjanadze. This is a favorable moment for Burjanadze because part of electorate doesn’t like National Movement and part of the electorate is already disappointed by the actions or inactions of Georgian Dream. Burjanadze will work on this electorate which is critical to the acting and former governments. I have to say that her words and actions are directed exactly at that part of voters. For example, Burjanadze thinks that politics of restoration of justice should be more firm and realistic. This formula is directed against National Movement as well as Georgian Dream. Also Burjanadze thinks that political relations with the west are very mild and compromised and should be based on the interests of Georgia: she thinks that cohabitation was a compromise step of the country in order to sooth Europe and it was not ‘profitable’ for Georgia.
Q. Do you think the presidential elections will have the second tour? And why do you expect it to happen?
A. I think that Burjanadze will be a runner-up and Bakradze will have the third place. As for the second round of the elections, it is difficult to say as Georgian Dream will fight to gain enough votes in the first run. But the candidates are quite strong; you cannot be sure that the first round will determine the president of Georgia. As I said, the candidates are strong enough and they will take away votes from each other. Besides, we haven’t mentioned Shalva Natelashvili, who was quite passive last time and hence, he has little chance to win but he can get many votes and he will take away these votes from other candidates. That’s why I doubt that first round will identify the winner.