Georgian Dream’s victory and loss of the Armenian reality

The Georgian parliamentary elections October 1 and political processes followed were a strong stroke to the government of Armenia. We don’t mean the victory of the Georgian Dream political power, which is a pro-Russian and wants to increase Russia’s presence in Georgia.

The Georgian president said, “According to preliminary results of the parliamentary election we see that during this election the Georgian Dream alliance has a privilege. This means that the parliamentary new majority will form a new government, and the president has to support the work of the parliament, election of the speaker and formation of the new government within the limits of the Constitution. The viewpoints of this alliance are strange to us and will remain to be so. Meanwhile, we stay loyal to democracy and respect the opinion of people. As the leader of the United National Movement political power I am announcing that the party is turning into an opposition in order to protect all what we have been able to achieve during these 8 years since the rose revolution. All reforms we have done have made Georgia known in the world and contributed to our development.”

One may ask what it has to do with Armenia. However, this announcement shows that Sahakashvili, being the president, is able to accept his loss in the elections and meanwhile stay loyal to democratic values. This is an unprecedented fact in South Caucasus and this reaffirms Georgia’s commitment to be the most democratic state in the region.

Certainly there may be people who may say that this is a show or this is because Sahakashvili is supported by the West, etc. We believe the Russian propaganda sources will be full of such publications that our government would like to hear. However, no one can answer the question why Sahakashvili cannot falsify elections, go out to streets with the police and provoke criminal cases against several opposition members and do his job. This question is becoming more actual in consideration of the possibility that he will have to leave the president’s office next year.

Sahakashvili cannot be elected for the third time. Also, according to the new Constitution the new parliament will have more powers and in fact the head of the state will be the prime-minister brought up by the parliamentary majority. This is what Sahakashvili was planning on as he wanted to have parliamentary majority and later keep the power by becoming prime-minister. However, he announced that he would respect the Constitution and support the formation of a new government.

In fact, being the president of the country Sahakashvili accepted both his loss and the loss of his party. He announced about becoming opposition, which is a new precedent as the president’s position will be occupied by a member of the opposition.

In parallel with all this happening, the authorities in Armenia are cleaning up the political sector from potential competitors before the presidential election. This is the same government struggling against one potential competitor for presidency that came to power and established themselves on power after killing ten people during the tenure of a team that Vartan Oskanyan was a part of.

With his weird behavior Sahakashvili was able to make Georgia the most democratic state in the region. By the way, besides serious inner reforms Georgia had a cultural advancement, which made it more developed than Armenia by several times. Sahakashvili was able to lose, which can be the beginning of Georgia’s new victories in the region and world.