TBILISI, DFWatch–Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili says his Georgian Dream coalition will agree to a demand put forth by President Mikheil Saakashvili’s National Movement and offer former government officials amnesty.

The head of government writes in an open letter addressed to the president that he wants to find a way out of the gridlocked negotiations about a set of constitutional amendments.

The Georgian Dream coalition suggests two amendments to the constitution: it changes the powers of the president and removes the part of the constitution where it says the location of parliament. The UNM at first agreed to the first amendments, with certain conditions, but in the end they rejected the agreement.

One of their demands is to write into the constitution what Georgia’s foreign policy is. Another demand as a large-scale amnesty for former government officials – this last demand was the reason the negotiations broke down.

Ivanishvili suggests that the president declares clearly within the next 2-3 days whether he supports the amendments – ‘refuse constitution dictatorship or support prohibition to dismiss government without parliament agreement.’

“Your preceding and clear answer is necessary so that afterwards you don’t start saying that you also supported this amendment, just like you claim that you never thought about sitting in the prime minister’s chair,” the letter says.


In his letter, the PM underlines that the constitution amendment will be brought before parliament for a vote by the end of March.

“This ballot will really become a watershed,” he writes. “You can say my words are ultimatum or a politically generous, but I state- the one who agrees with this amendment, he continues to serve for the country, has a chance to correct mistakes and have a chance for better political future; the one who refuses, they will take full political responsibility for what your team members have committed for the nine years and continue living with this burden.”

The PM once again makes it clear that he doesn’t plan to stay in politics long and that he will become ‘an ordinary member of society in the nearest future’, when he will freely evaluate political processes.