Opposition urges Saakashvili to schedule referendum on early presidential electionFebruary 24, 2009 - 12:43 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Two major Georgian opposition groups, the Republican Party and the New Right party, merged on Monday to form the Alliance for Georgia with Tbilisi's former ambassador to the UN, Irakly Alasaniya. At the launch, Republican Party leader David Usupashvili stressed that the group's overall objective was the resignation of the president. "Proceeding from that, we offer the public our candidate for president, Irakly Alasaniya," he said. Alasaniya, one of the most popular politicians in Georgia who has strong ties with the United States, went on to issue an ultimatum to President Mikheil Saakashvili. "As President Mikheil Saakashvili does not have enough political will to make the appropriate decision ... and step down, we give him 10 days to schedule a referendum. The president should enable Georgian people to make a decision on the necessity of holding presidential elections ahead of schedule," Alasaniya said. He said that after the 10-day deadline passes, Alliance for Georgia would begin to take concrete steps for carrying out a national referendum. According to Russia's Kommersant newspaper, the move marks a radical change in the opposition's tactics, commenting that during August's war with Russia over South Ossetia, the opposition generally supported Saakashvili for "fear of accusations of betraying the national interests." Opposition to Saakashvili has been growing in Georgia since its ill-conceived attack on the region, which maintained de facto independence from Tbilisi since the early 1990s, in a bid to bring it back under central control. After a five-day war to "force Georgia to peace," Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, RIA Novosti reports. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Police try to impede Armenian Church head’s access to war memorial Police tried to stop the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, from visiting a war memorial. Greece says ready to help as Armenia fights flooding consequences Greece is ready to assist Armenia in combatting the consequences of deadly floods in the country’s north. “He will leave”: Protest leader no longer demands meeting with Pashinyan Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan no longer demands a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Lemkin Institute petition seeks release of Armenians in Azerbaijan The Lemkin Institute is deeply concerned about the continued illegal detention of political prisoners from Karabakh in Azerbaijan. |