New wave of anger in georgia protests to say the government has broken its promise of democratic reform so could this turn into yet another crisis in this former soviet republic and are outside forces involved this is inside story. Welcome to the program on how he had seen almost 3 decades after georgia gained its independence protesters say free and Fair Elections still on soloed demonstrations broke out in the capital of tbilisi this week after the government failed to keep its promise to reform the electoral system tens of thousands barricaded the gates of parliaments calling for an early election they say they were lied to and the ruling Georgian Dream party is using a broken system to stay in power or open Forrester Walker has more now from tbilisi. Im standing outside georges interior ministry where young opposition activists have gathered this was a well organized event intended to maximize Media Coverage because the opposition want to show that theyre still trying to persuade this government to do things differently based on that decision that happened last week in parliament where the government backtracked on a promise to reform the electrical codes that would have given a fully proportional representation in georgian elections thats what brought people out onto this streets on sunday and into monday where there was a tense encampment that was very quickly demolished crowds were dispersed on monday the government is saying its has no intention of reintroducing those reforms given that parliament had declined them but we have to remember that the Georgian Parliament is led by the majority governing party that you watch and dream and the reason the crowds that weve seen this week and opposition movements are so frustrated it because the changes to the electrical code were promised back in june and it would have made for a much more democratic reflection of the popular with in georgia if they had gone ahead. Right here is for the opposition to continue to show that they have some form of the mens room ahead of large scale demonstrations again in the capital when Parliament Reconvenes next week well this weeks protest follow decades of unrest and revolution georgia claimed independence from the soviet union back in 1991 that led to 2 years of civil war and the overthrow of its 1st president the 2nd president was also removed after protests in 2003 known as the rose revolution it was seen as a move towards closer ties with the west less than a year later tensions with the a general region came. Close to a military confrontation the crisis ended without bloodshed and with the government intact in 2008 Georgia Force a 5 day war against russia and its self proclaimed territories hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and relations sent back well that partly came to a head in june of this year when a visit by a russian legislator triggered more protests outside the parliaments. Well lets bring in our guests who are all in the georgian capital tbilisi and 1st up political analyst and former minister of education in georgia short a degree large for the an economist and leader of the opposition social movement shane and sakia of the should say a political analysts who previously worked in the president ial press Office Gentlemen welcome to you all if i could start with you mr gear no idea how did the select or reform proposal which is at the hearts of these process how did this come about its. Ok i think i dont have time to elaborate on the note but. On quantities of different Electoral Systems bought most people in georgia. Agrees that iraqs proportional fully proportional system a presentation would be might be better because it ensures great the pluralist and makes the peaceful change of government much more. Peaceable and actually government also recognizes that sure ethically backed it postponed introduction of this before monkey 2024 and only under pressure from large protesting giunta they see are they promised federally promised that the sort of portable because it out already in the skull accts and everybody took it for granted that of course their promise was very firm made by the leader of the Georgian Dream parties that are ruling party was kind of really sound and theres an unexpectedly as a parliamentary just did it or on the face of it it was kind of short of the belly and hostile d for the ruling party but many people or i will say most people dont believe that story they think that these socalled rebellion internally billiard balls really stage because you know i really did not want their leader as i said of their own party did not really wants that support because it was counted as kind of pretty pretty do you stick chances of each party to prevail in the next election and so people believe people feel that they were cheated and steps very bad feeling the asli and thats caused this outrage ok and let me midnight should take me last for the you are coming to us from the streets here. Group has been protesting and as weve heard those protests have been approved loans but at the heart of this politician breaks promises theres nothing really new in that so why is there the strength of feeling why are you so unhappy. Well 1st of all it was the promise net not made only to the society and for the Georgian Society but to the International Community also well on the un from the un tribune also our president said that it will be a proportional elections in 2020 and all d the diplomatic corps sent so on and so on the thing is ill give you an example why why the election is election system the meek system we are currently having these totally unfair because with a lack of democratic tradition and a lack of decentralization and. Its. It doesnt work like youre entirely on elections doesnt work here because for example 46 percent approximately voters wonted for the acting ruling party but they got 75 percent of seats in the parliament so that is not fair they get constitutional majority and this is the problem were having with all the governments with current goal of the previous government everything while the power is concentrated in the hands of the one and it hurts the Democracy Team and hearts the prostate for the democracy and georgian public is already fed up with this we dont want a one man rule we even have an insider joke that the only man who can serve georgia is be deny you money surely himself because everyone else serve same and of course this. Retiree a rebellion was staged even the uprising mean these terrorists dont want to hear to oppose the naive on the surely very soviet style rule when the chair of the Party Controls every one. Look at our history where are the prime ministers because you know even the surely if it points in fire the prime ministers whenever d he wants and theyre out. The political system that we cannot even find it in public d sphere in ok im going to have to cut your fare and lets bring in the premise that we want democracy for our country absolutely gabby should say if i could come to you know we have heard some some startling statistics there 44 percent of the population voted for the reeling party yet they have 75 percent of the votes why should this electoral system not be reforms why is it justified for the government to remove this measure a lot of the problem is that the promise was that the government would do that kind of approved those changes and the our International PartnerGeorgian Society believed in that but they had not been and met and. I did to that appendix to the isa a promise that we might have problems inside the team a relief team where we have this but i go to tell you an m. P. s who have nothing to lose because they were not offered the next change of the lucrative places of the proportional list so they were getting to parliament in 25 years so they went against the team so other point is that we hear now all the kind of calls from our western partners from Honduras Council of europe are from there is a mass of those there yes yes they met with the chairman of the ruling party because you dont im sure if and of the calls are directed somehow 7 we should get out from this political tensions but the thing is that we have to divide these peaceful protests they are absolutely just when they are in the line of of the law and they are kind of other side of the Legal Process when they are blocking of the power. I meant that most people are 1 you know not happy in any capital of the world so these are 2 different but because of these destructive movements and the clashes with police and because of these both kind of very much priority for the society the be in the show the number of people which we have thousands of these just down sides now the main problem are here social economic front legs and in my view of the people do not consumer these proportional system to be a very much whole priority for them so i think the government is playing go on that now just keep in mind that how long these protests will continue or in a diminishing her or kind of inflame self or also. Whether these pressure will continue from the west based on the number of people will be streets or will it stop so its kind of 5050 we dont know but you know any case protests will be there or not these toshibas must be stopped somehow because otherwise a godor society its quite quite tense now we do not need tensions in the streets we need Stable Development and free and Fair Elections ok were getting a lot of reaction to your comments and if i could come to you 1st i guess. Is there some truth in that this isnt a pressing concern for the people of georgia the government has other things to work on 1st which you agree with that. Ok there will be a silly i mean or your own poll shows that. You cannot make sure local nomic programs is the really is the greatest problem for most people but people also believes that the current government doesnt quite bad joke and the latest poll showed lets like 78 percent most people knew about reportable system and like 78 percent approved always least change so yes its not its maybe not number one priority for every person more still citizens are quite sure that these is very very important important report show part of course country to settle matters are usually understandable maybe not for old people box most people see albeit clearly sees their government cheated that government promised something and then truly promised because it was not in each partys and political interest and. That everybody understands and does that thats create a crisis of trust i will call it what is happening now because its a process people dont trust the Government People dont trust or see independents of or people dont trust elections the electoral system is because. Government has you know you just bribe right being altered sonata methods pressure on both are so very cross towards government institutions and thats where the danger nobody in georgia wants another devolution but if you dont cross the street to sense their ease at h. T. It stimulates more Data Collection and this kind of catch 22. 00. Ok if i can say im sorry youre afraid let me think its a key addition to the ad so it is that this is to set. This point has been raised there is no trust in the government because it appears on the surface that the government doesnt want to implement this change because they would lose sight surely that should be a priority for them to tackle if they want to try and. To fix some of the other social problems which georgians are facing. The problem social economic problems are really on the surface and everyone feels that and thats why my previous statement i said thats the diminishing number of protesters the kind of just protests because yes these people where these are pointy these allusion when there was a 100 percent somehow from least there would be change to proportional seats that this did happen but. I repeat myself as i said that because there were some violent clashes with police when there were kind of these all the in the illegal caracas the parliament the number of those the meanest who are now hundreds that it me and opposition now will try to kind of once a week looking at the parliament and how the society will respond we are they more belies the thousands of people so they mobilized before a so its its really a kind of as mr modi has set catch 22 situation we need some kind of thing. Maybe out of the head some kind of offer to a political spectrum because almost all they get opposition Political Parties are united against of the support. Structure constructively opposing this these are kind of use of whom until i am sorry to jump in missouri should say that surely there to a political solution would be to stick with what you had says stick with what the government and initially promise to take. Well. They offer constructive dialogue they say that we do not want any blocking these padlocking going to get cetera we want constructive right however they want the opposition says no we will quote you know we will make a hell for you so you know they have a resistance the Government People and they are what they are blocking the other 30 for buildings which is the kind of obesity of finance you know you cant go they are these thirsty ok so he said to do you do this was this kind of illegal inclusion attempts in Parliament Following these things shameful received over russian and keep government out of some of these trigger those rocks of politics of the russian people who patient protest you know where with the party im going to im going to cut you off im sorry we are fast running out of time lets address this issue of the violence let me turn to you should be lashed to the. Is the violence undermining the case that the opposition are trying to make and surely if you want to deal with this problem to deal with this government the solution would be to vote them out at the next election if strength of feeling is so strong. Why cant you get rid of the entire party in the next elections. Yes and if theyre not afraid of d elections who are no not providing preliminarily a chance of course well for instance if theyre saying that its a crisis ive heard several lights 1st of all that there are hundreds on the streets no reuters wrote that it was like 20000 people protesting course week and were having the protests on one day and you can. You can check it out and the 2nd lie it was the protests are attributed to the party and like United Nations the moment the big wean off our whole our profits from the jews is that. Internally well before before our protest people were going to the protest of the parties now Political Parties are coming to the protests by the people and. While the current Government Party wants to watch or good the protests to the previous governments just to polarize the society but this is not the case Civil Society protesting here and yes we dont want my jury tyrion elections because we dont want any party gaining total power being a government or Oppositional Party we dont want total power constitutional majority in parliament for anyone because it hurts democracy and therefore. Cannot make problems well we had like 2 digit growth during the previous government now we have evolved 4 percent g. D. P. Growth and if we grow in that pace georgios the developing country will need them more than half a century to catch up with European Unions poorest country. By g. D. P. Capito if we continue growth d with the same pace so does not. Well the current government repeats all the mistakes of previous government but doesnt repeat it successes and thats a problem and we just want the chance of the change in this neat system you should know who the majoritarian who those people are there are like we have like 150 people in the parliament. And well the ruling party has about. 20. 3 terry and david this. Of the ruling party did not ask any question did not have any anything to say via the mic or a phone in the parliament for last 2 years they didnt all the microphones they just buy the busy seats to protect their businesses you should know that. This public procurements 3rd of them are made by direct sales and thats how the system works and they dont want to give it up they dont want to give the power to the people they dont want to give the choice to the people ok and thats when the final minutes in this debate im sorry to cut you off we are in the final minutes of this to meet people and to give you every reason. To give you just finally in 10 seconds what do you think this is a tactic the last for the is the way out of this crisis in one sentence. Government should the prover should like they said there will be a proportional elections and thirst should be proportional it shows in 2020 were not standing here for the revolution or were Peaceful Protesters alone while its is what we preach we are Peaceful Protesters standing here for the chance of the democracy in this the cape for the georgia and they could provide us at least with that. We dont want we dont ask them to call nice larsson we just won the choice the choice of our government ok thank you very much indeed. And in one sense sense how do you think this situation plays out for georgia and for democracy in georgia in general the the Georgian Dream was a partially damaged because of not cant now kept promise and i guess that the government will be kind of now observing how much of the number of people will be on the streets without position managed to kind of organize coast truck legal protests free if we proposed test against this kind of problems hes in also will there be in cold tune u. S. Pressure from washington or from western capitals remains to be seen really if its not government will follow the existing legal system and then there will be a political election by you know told by plenty plenty but it remains to be seen we both know the final outc