Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Soros to attend Ukraine forum on fair elections while his protégé Saakashvili in Georgia is producing an election which is a re-run of much of a rigged poll that led to his predecessor Shevardnadze's downfall. PACE delegates have issued a number of warnings and stated their fear for the future of democratic pluralism in Georgia under Soros’ Saakashvili.

This is not about democracy, never has been. Just try and make it look as real as possible. The play's the thing. -Am

George Soros to visit Ukraine
Mar 26 2004 1:59PM

KYIV. March 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - U.S. businessman and philanthropist George Soros will visit Ukraine from March 29 to April 2. This will be a private visit at the invitation of nongovernmental organizations, an official in the Vidrodzhennya (Revival) fund told Interfax on Friday.
Soros will attend a roundtable meeting on Tolerance and Human Rights in the Crimea to be held in the Livadia palace in Yalta on March 30 and an international forum on human rights and fair elections in Kyiv on March 31.
He is also expected to meet with Ukrainian officials. [UA EUROPE EMRG POL PRO] ap aw

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=9683598


Excerpt:

Critics say the thumping election victory by Saakashvili's allies will bring problems for the 36-year-old nationalist whose impetuous actions often suggest he needs checks and balances. It took phone calls from Washington, keen that construction work on a Western pipeline for Caspian oil not be affected, and from Moscow for Saakashvili to temper his approach to Abashidze.

His success in tapping into frustration arising from the poverty and economic chaos of the Shevardnadze years has left his opponents in disarray.

Political analyst Gia Nodia said it was questionable whether any opposition party would make the seven percent threshold for gaining seats. "We'll basically have a single party parliament which is not good of course," Nodia said.

The election is a re-run of much of a rigged poll that led to Shevardnadze's downfall. Only three parties, including Abashidze's Revival, can dent a runaway victory for Saakashvili's National Movement Democrats bloc in the contest for 150 party list seats in the 235-seat chamber.

A wild card may be the Freedom Party led by Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, son of Zviad Gamsakhurdia who was Georgia's first post-Soviet president. He has spent the past 12 years in Switzerland, but has quickly built up a following in his father's old stronghold of western Georgia.

(Additional reporting by Michael Steen)



http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4658168


Excerpt:

Yet, despite the warm reception they gave the young Georgian leader, PACE delegates issued a number of warnings. A report on the functioning of democratic institutions in Georgia debated after Saakashvili addressed the assembly raises concerns at recent political developments in that country.

"The assembly notes its concern about the current reshaping of Georgian political life and the risk of a disappearance of all parliamentary opposition after the forthcoming elections and, in consequence, of any true institutional counterweight," reads a resolution adopted at the end of a one-hour debate.

A rerun of last November's disputed parliamentary polls that precipitated the downfall of Shevardnadze's administration is scheduled for 28 March. Following Saakashvili's takeover after the so-called "Revolution of the Roses" that followed the controversial vote, some Georgian political observers have raised concerns at the possible concentration of power in the hands of a single party or coalition.

The Tbilisi-based "Civil Georgia" information website earlier this month (12 January) quoted an independent opinion survey showing that Saakashvili and his allies could garner nearly 80 percent of the votes in the next election. The survey also showed that none of the current opposition parties would overcome the 7-percent barrier required to enter parliament.

"If the elections were to culminate in the sole representation in parliament of the ruling coalition, the assembly might fear for the future of democratic pluralism in Georgia," the resolution adopted yesterday in Strasbourg says.

http://www.rferl.org/features/features_article.aspx?id=223D2379-F6CF-4D37-962C-FF6B7D8ACDF9&m=1&....