The opposition has demanded the new staff of Central Election Commission (CEC) to appear before parliament. On June 15, Rightists and Conservatives stated that the partial controllers of the National Movement had been holding confidential meetings with Gamgebelis and other officials and had been giving instructions to them.

Specifically, members of the governing party demanded a list with five members to staff the lower chain of election administrations, for which only “trustworthy” heads of local government should be made responsible.

Majority members find these demands amusing. Mikheil Machavariani, vice-speaker of parliament, denies any allegations of confidential meetings, and says that neither he nor any other members of the Nationalist movement have ever participated in any such meetings. He also stated that these accusations had only been made because certain political forces wished to discredit the election commissions: “Fear has watchful eyes. Our government has no need of election machinations. Moreover, future elections will be watched by the international community.” In order to prove his sincerity, Machavariani has offered permission to monitor his phone conversations.

Despite this argument, the opposition still does not trust Machavariani. According to Mamuka Katsitadze, member of the Rightists Opposition, Machavariani was in several regions last week, and everyone says that confidential meetings took place there.

Opposition members ask, “If they staffed the CEC the way they wanted, why should we be surprised if the same things happened with the district and regional election commissions?”

A governmental meeting had been planned for Thursday, at which the heads of law enforcement bodies were to speak about the death of Zurab Zhvania. However, this meeting won’t happen because the parliamentary majority convinced the opposition that was inappropriate to discuss the issue publicly, as the case is still under investigation. According to Parliamentary Chair Nino Burjanadze, MPs will be given a full report only after the investigation is complete. Until then, they will only receive a written answer from the Prosecutor General.

But not everyone is content to wait indefinitely. According to MP Kakha Kukava, if the interior affairs minister and the prosecutor general refuse to appear at the governmental hour, they will violate article No 59 of the Georgian constitutional, which states: “A group of MPs consisting of at least 10 members may ask any question of the body accountable to parliament or a particular member of the government, who must answer the question at the parliamentary session.”

Apart from answering questions about the death of Zurab Zhvania, Interior Affairs Minister Vano Merabishvili, invited to speak at the governmental hour, had to answer questions about cases of power abuse by some police officers in the Ombudsman’s report. However, it seemed that Pikria Chikhradze, who posed the question, no longer wished to ask Merabishvili about this subject.

MPs heard a report from the temporary parliamentary commission on issues of territorial integrity. Despite the fact that Akaki Bobokhidze was appointed head of the commission just a month ago, he still received sharp criticism from his colleagues. Republican Davit Berdzenishvili stated, “The only result we have yet is that the new chair has a better Cabinet and fewer people are working at the apparatus.”

Ivliane Khaindrava has more pretensions towards the temporary commission. He says that the report speaks about the publication of Tamaz Diasamidze’s book and melioration problems in Gali, but no analyses was made of the tragedy in Tskhinvali from 1989-1992, and nothing was said about the concept for resolving the conflict.

During the discussion, MPs spoke about the difficult situation in Tskhinvali today. Oppositionist members of the commission Zviad Dzidziguri and Mamuka Katsitadze expressed controversial opinions. Dzidziguri stated, “Residents of the Liakhvi Gorge are selling their cattle and their homes, and running away.” However, Katsitadze declared, “Maybe residents really are selling their cattle, but they are not going anywhere, instead buying weapons to protect themselves.”