Week 12-19 Feb.: To untie the knots

As time goes by, the political landscape unties its knots in Armenia.
The present government coalition's parties will most probably run independently. On Monday Head of Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary faction, Deputy Chairman of the Party Galust Sahakyan dismissed rumours about a possible new coalition agreement. He didn't rule it out, still it's quite clear that Prosperous Armenia is doing its best to attract valuable names to its party list. Arthur Baghdasaryan, Rule of Law party, already declared that the party will run with its own proportional list.

Among the (many) opposition parties, Heritage and Free Democrats tried and find a common ground for action. Heritage may be a party that would manage to enter the National Assembly also running alone. Still, to be effective it would need something more than few seats. So, in the days following the congress of the 2nd of March the party may reveal its potential new allies' strategy.

Many parties (among them the Armenian Revolutionary Federation) are still working on their party lists. The vote is yet far, in May.
And it's even more far in Georgia, albeit a group proposed to anticipate the election date. The most vibrant part of the civil society is at present fully absorbed in the protest against the new Law on Parties. There are issues of concerns, according to relevant national and international organizations. And the government may indeed consider to amend it once more. After all, if the amendments are meant - as many voice - to prevent Bidzina Ivanishvili from interfering with all his money and power in the political life of the country, the measure may still be not only unfair but also disproportionate.

Meanwhile Ivanishvili unveiled the core team of his would-be party. He's still deprived of Georgian citizenship, so just mentioning how hopeful the party might be is totally premature. And the government has many months to come and all the tolls are at its disposal to gain even more consensus than the present, including insisting on the allegations of Ivanishvili's links with Moscow.

As the domestic politics evolves, in the year of parliamentary elections, from the south-east winds of war and instability blow . A car bomb was defused in Tbilisi. Target: the Israeli Embassy. Mastermind? Some suggest Iran. Iran denies, while its relations again touch a negative pick with Azerbaijan.
Some knots had better untie slowly and gently.