Shevardnadze's failure to deliver

By Natalia Antelava
Tbilisi

A decade ago, the silver-haired foreign minister of the USSR and the co-architect of Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika, brought promises of democracy and development to post-Soviet Georgia.

Ten years on, and at the place where people greeted Eduard Shevardnadze's arrival in power, thousands are asking him to step down.

Opposition parties are calling on Mr Shevardnadze to resign

It's been a decade of broken promises for Georgia, and for many here, Mr Shevardnadze is to blame.

He's a man who has failed to deliver the country out of unresolved conflicts, electricity crises, rampant poverty and corruption. Just last week, Mr Shevardnadze made another promise - that of democratic and fair parliamentary elections.

Since then thousands have taken to the streets of Tbilisi in support of the opposition and in protest at the preliminary official results of the vote.

Latest results show a lead for the Revival Party of Aslan Abashidze, head of Georgia's autonomous Ajaria region, and an ally of Mr Shevardnadze.

'Enough is enough'

The president's own political bloc, For a New Georgia, is in second place. International observers say the election was marred by spectacular irregularities, and are especially critical of rigged votes in Ajaria where the unpopular Revival Union officially got 95% of the vote.

Georgians are outraged.

"The government stole our votes. For how long do we have to be slaves of this government?" asked one of the protesters at Tuesday's demonstration.

Shevardnadze had tremendous opportunities open to him and he just did not realise them and he failed to deliver promises he gave to the people Mikhail Saakashvili National Movement leader

Analysts say Mr Shevardnadze needs control of the parliamentary seats in order to hold on to power after his presidential term runs out in 2005. But thousands across the country say they've had enough.

"Enough of being a failing state, enough of not having democracy, enough of being deprived of all our civic rights, enough of being subjects and not citizens," says Giorgi Kandelaki, an activist of a popular anti-government student movement Kmara - Georgian for Enough is Enough.

"Shevardnadze encapsulates everything we confront."

And it's not just Georgians who've had change of heart. For many years Shevy, as his Cold War pals called him, was seen by the West as Georgia's biggest asset.

His promises of reform were backed by the billions in foreign aid. But today, Georgia is no longer one of Washington's largest per capita aid recipients, and according to the analyst Ghia Nodia, Mr Shevardnadze is no longer the darling of the West.

Youth movements say the president represents everything they oppose

"I think abroad, in the mid-1990s he was seen as reformer, person who brought stability and democracy," said Mr Nodia.

"Now he is seen as a person who is a weak leader, who cannot do anything about corruption in Georgia and who is not likely to hand over his power to any successor who will lead Georgia into better future."

Last Sunday's vote has already revealed one potential successor.

Leading the exit polls and placed third in the official results so far is the popular National Movement party.

Its leader is Mikhail Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer and the chairman of Tbilisi City Council. In 2001 Mr Saakashvili resigned from his post of justice minister in 2001 saying he no longer wanted to be part of the Georgian president's corrupt team.

Survivor

Since then he has become Mr Shevardnadze's most radical and outspoken opponent.

"Shevardnadze had tremendous opportunities open to him and he just did not realise them and he failed to deliver promises he gave to the people," he said.

Analysts say the president needs control of the parliamentary seats

"And that's the tragic thing about his career. Someone so charismatic, so well known who could have become a founding father of a new nation in the end became a trivial semi-dictator hated and despised by his own people."

This week, to cheers from huge crowds, Mr Saakashvili gave the Georgian president an ultimatum: either accept the defeat of the government bloc or resign.

In response, the government has filled the streets with soldiers and riot police. Buses carrying hundreds of opposition supporters from the regions were not allowed to enter Tbilisi.

Mr Shevarnadze, the survivor of two assassination attempts and many political storms, said he was not afraid.

"I will resign if people want me to," he added.

As the protests across the country are expected to continue, many wonder if this is one promise Mr Shevardnadze will be forced to keep.