Ruling Georgian bloc faces possible split

Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia, one of the leaders of the ruling pro-presidential "For New Georgia" bloc, said today that she won't object to being excluded from the partisan ballot.

"President Eduard Shevardnadze may exclude me from the partisan ballot, if he so desires," Sarishvili-Chanturia told reporters at a press conference in Tbilisi today.

Sarishvili-Chanturia, who heads the National-Democratic Party, wants to establish her own faction if she comes to the republican Parliament. "I need the Parliament as a political rostrum; and I'll use it accordingly," she noted.

In her words, the Georgian leadership plans to make some concessions to the consolidated republican opposition November 7.

"I have no intention of cooperating with the Government, whose members have all proved to be cowardly rabbits. It's immoral when the street opposition keeps demanding that voting results be rigged, and when the Government agrees to do this," Sarishvili-Chanturia stressed.

Socialist Party leader Vakhtang Rcheulishvili, who also ranks among the leaders the afore-said pro-presidential bloc, said he was discontent with the position of the ruling bloc's leadership.