The republic of Georgia postponed elections scheduled Sunday to introduce a multiparty system and give opposition parties time to organize their campaigns against the ruling Communists. The republic's ruling Supreme Soviet parliament decided late Tuesday to postpone the elections. A spokesman for the opposition People's Front, Valerian Khukhunasvili, said the decision was made after intense negotiations between the Communist Party chief and the head of the People's Front. The official Soviet news agency Tass said the elections would be held in October or November and that current legislators would continue in their offices until then. The Georgian Supreme Soviet also abolished an article in the republic's constitution granting the Communist Party a monopoly on political power, Tass said. The move echoed the national legislature's vote last week to end the unchallenged role of the Communist Party. The amended Georgian constitution gives all political parties and public organizations the right ``to take part in working out the policies of the government, in managing government and public affairs.'' The People's Front was instrumental in pressing for the change and has spearheaded the republic's fight for independence. On March 9, the Georgian parliament condemned what it said was the republic's forced annexation by the Soviet Union in the 1920s and demanded negotiations on restoring independence. Two days later, the Baltic republic of Lithuania declared itself independent, which the Soviet government refuses to accept. Pro-independence groups have scored significant victories in local elections this year in Lithuania and the two other Baltic republics, Estonia and Latvia. Pro-independence parties in Georgia, including the People's Front, have been pushing for secession for more than a year. The parties have used mass demonstrations to press for independence. On April 9, 1989, Soviet soldiers moved against a crowd of peaceful demonstrators in the republic's capital of Tbilisi, killing 19. A patrol later shot another person for violating curfew.
