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Georgia Formation of the Shevardnadze Government
An immediate goal after Shevardnadze's return was to avoid
repeating the one-man rule imposed by Gamsakhurdia while keeping
a sufficiently tight grip on central power to prevent regional
separatism. The newly elected parliament convened for the first
time in November 1992. The lack of dominant parties and the large
number of independent deputies ensured that Shevardnadze would
dominate parliamentary sessions. The precise role of Shevardnadze
was not clear at the time of the elections; on November 6, the
parliament ratified proposals on this subject in the Law on State
Power. Instead of reestablishing the post of president that had
been created by--and was still claimed by--Gamsakhurdia,
parliament gave Shevardnadze a new title, head of government. In
theory, parliament was to elect the holder of this office,
although in practice the position was understood to be combined
with the popularly elected post of chairman of the parliament.
Thus an impasse between the executive and the legislative
branches was avoided by giving the same person a top role in
both, but the division of power between the branches remained
unclear in early 1994.
Data as of March 1994
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