30 April 2009, 22:10
Georgia: 150 members of pro-Presidential party join the opposition
The ruling party in Georgia - the "United National Movement", where President Mikhail Saakashvili is the leader, was left by 150 members who decided to join the opposition. This was stated by Mamuka Katsitadze, one of oppositional leaders on Wednesday, April 29, at the rally held in front of the building of the Parliament.
According to Mr Katsitadze, the members of the Ponichal Tbilisi district organization of the party in power, together with its leader Shalva Tvauri, decided to join the opposition.
The "Interfax" reports that the oppositionist offered to recheck the news; however, it was not confirmed by any of other sources yet. The ruling party of Georgia gives no comments.
Meanwhile, information arrives about a split in the ranks of the opposition itself. Thus, David Bakradze, speaker of the Georgian Parliament, said that one of these days he "secretly met one of oppositional leaders." In their turn, the leaders of the opposition object, saying that "Bakradze is intriguing, and there were no secret meetings"; however, Eka Kherkheulidze, MP from the party in power "United National Movement", has also confirmed this information, but gave no particular names of the participants of the meeting.
Besides, on April 28, on the day of universal pardon and repentance, in the big Sacred Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi, President Mikhail Saakashvili and Irakliy Alasaniya, former Georgia's ambassador to the UN and now one of the leaders of the opposition, shook hands. This fact caused bewilderment in other oppositional leaders, who preferred to visit the sermon in other temples, not hiding the fact that they did not want standing in one church with the President, as the "Kommersant" writes.
