Reconciliation in the Republic of Georgia

Floor Speech

RECONCILIATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA -- (Senate - January 24, 2008)

Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, on Sunday, January 20, Mikhail Saakashvili was reinaugurated as President of the Republic of Georgia. He won an election that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, referred to as ``the first genuinely competitive presidential election in the country, enabling the Georgian people to express their political choice.'' I wish President Saakashvili and the people of Georgia well.

President Saakashvili's program of reform and integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions, such as NATO, depends on the strength of Georgia's democracy. At the same time, membership in those institutions will reinforce and protect Georgia's democracy.

When I spoke with President Saakashvili in November, I was confident that he understood the close connection between these two goals. In order to achieve them, reconciliation between the President and his political opponents is essential.

Despite the findings of OSCE international monitors, the Georgian opposition repudiated the election's results and took to the street. In 16 years of independence there has never been a peaceful transfer of power in Georgia. Perhaps the time has come to move the debate off the street and into Parliament.

In my 35 years in the Senate, I have seen just how powerful a vehicle for change a democratically elected body can be. I hope the opposition parties will focus their energies on April's parliamentary elections, reinvigorating the Parliament and promoting progress from within.

On the same day that they gathered to elect a President, 73 percent of the Georgian electorate affirmed their interest in Georgia joining NATO. I support their aspirations and I am confident that the people of Georgia, united by a sense of common purpose, can and will realize their full potential and achieve great things.

Source