Bidhzina Ivanishvili at a Press Briefing.
As the process of political transition in Georgia gathers pace, and with the prospect of political co-habitation between the two main political forces in the country, at least for the next year, the question now needs to be asked how the new situation will impact the region of the Caucasus as a whole.
In this special commentary for Caucasus Elections Watch Dennis Sammut analysis the impact of the “Bidhzina phenomena” on the Caucasus Region. More…
Vartan Oscanian
The Armenian National Security Service (NSS) Department of Investigation on Monday, 8 October formally charged the Civilitas Foundation founder Vartan Oscania in a case that has already become a centre of international attention. Karina Gould followed events in the days leading to the formal charges.
After two days of deliberations, Vartan Oskanian, a prominent legislator with the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) and former Foreign Minister of Armenia, lost his right to political immunity in a 64-6 vote in the Armenian National Assembly on Tuesday 2, October.
The motion was put foward by the Prosecutor General of Armenia, Aghvan Hovsepyan, asking MPs to vote in favour of revoking Oskanian’s political immunity in order to initiate a criminal investigation for allegedly laundering $1.4 million from the charity he founded, the Civilitas Foundation. More…
Civil.ge published a map showing the regional colour divide at Georgia’s recent elections
No doubt political analysts in Georgia and beyond will for some time be analyzing the results of the Georgian parliamentary elections to ask what exactly happened that saw such a dramatic swing in favour of the opposition, and why the party of President Saakashvili was so heavily punished by the Georgian voters.
There are however other issues that are going to require further study. Two maps published originally by the leading Georgian news portal civil.ge – the first port of call for many who want to keep in touch with Georgian affairs – show the distribution of seats and votes in the election. They tell an important story. More…
Georgian Dream and United National Movement delegations meeting on 5 October to map out transition of power.
The events in Georgia over the last few days cannot be described as anything but historic. Within minutes of the close of polling in the 1 October Parliamentary elections all exit polls indicated that the elections had been won by the Georgia Dream opposition coalition led by Bidhzina Ivanishvili.
For a tense few hours it was not clear how the government of President Saakashvili would react. Early signs were disturbing. There were reports of systematic attempts to alter the vote in favour of the ruling party in a number of marginal constituencies. Then there was statement by Saakashvili himself saying that Georgian Dream had won more seats under the party list vote, but that his United National Movement had won a majority of the single member constituencies vote. If true, this would have opened the way for what many had feared would be a nightmare scenario where two parties claimed victory.
In the end however commonsense and statesmanship prevailed. Saakashvili appeared on television and conceded defeat. A normal transition of power through the ballot box has never happened in the South Caucasus before. In Georgia the situation is even more complicated because of the constitutional peculiarities which leave a president in office from a different party, and at least for the next few months with strong power.
Georgians learned very quickly the meaning of political co-habitation. More…
Parliamentary elections were successfully held in Georgia on 1 October. After a tense few hours after polling stations closed, during which both leading parties in the election were claiming victory of some sort, it became evident that the opposition Georgian Dream Coalition had won the elections with a decisive 55% of the vote, whilst the governing United National Movement received 40% of the vote. All the other parties together got less than 5% of the vote. More…
Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili conceded defeat of his United National Movement in the 1 October parliamentary elections. In a televised speech the president said
“
Dear citizens,
The preliminary results of the Parliamentary Elections show the winning party to be the Georgian Dream. This means that the parliamentary majority should form the new government.
As president, within our constitutional framework, I will support that process so that parliament may function as it should and elect the Speaker of parliament as well as forming a new government. More…
Like the government of President Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian parliamentary elections held on 1 October 2012, reflected a mix of the best and worst practises for conducting elections in a free and democratic society.
Regardless of the result and the controversy around it that will continue for some time to come, the picture is patchy. More…
The Georgian Dream Coalition (GD) led by Bidhzina Ivanishvili has won the Parliamentary elections in Georgia, according to four exit polls defeating the United National Movement (UNM) of President Mikheil Saakashvili. All four exit polls are now out. Rustavi2 has GD at 51%; UNM at 41%. GPB has GD at 35%; UNM at 30%. Maestro has GD at 63%, UNM at 27%. And NGO League of Voters has GD at 70%; UNM at 25%. Official results are expected in a few hours time. There is a big discrepancy between the four polls but all confirm an Ivanishvili victory.
Polling was brisk throughout the day and was largely peaceful. There were many small minor infringements recorded, and a few more serious ones connected mainly with the voting process.
The New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) announced Friday 28 September, that the party membership of Gular Ahmadova, a Member of the Azerbaijani Parliament, has been revoked after a video surfaced on YouTube earlier in the week depicting the prominent YAP representative requesting a bribe from a former dean of a private university in Azerbaijan in exchange for a seat in parliament.
“The New Azerbaijan Party has expressed deep concern [regarding the] behaviours of the member of the party Gular Ahmadova together with the former rector of the International University of Azerbaijan Elshad Abdullayev in the recent video materials”, said Ali Ahmadov, (no relation to the MP in question), Deputy Chairperson of the YAP.
“Gular Ahmadova’s behaviour is not compatible with the principles and values of the party,” noted Ahmadov in a statement posted on the YAP website. “[Through] her fraud Ahmadova damaged the reputation of the ruling party in the country.” The statement continues that Ahmadova’s behaviour demonstrates she has lost the moral right to represent the YAP. Gular Ahmadova tendered her resignation on Friday in parliament, stating that as a criminal investigation was under way it would be inappropriate for her to remain in her position. She stated that she would assist the investigators, expressing confidence that the investigation will reveal the “objective truth” as well as the individuals involved in this scandal. More…
Georgia’s two main political forces have held large rallies in the capital Tbilisi bringing to an end a highly charged election campaign.
Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili on Friday spoke in Tbilisi’s Dynamo Stadium to cheers from an enthusiastic crowd of supporters of his United National Movement, waving the parties distinctive red flag with the number 5, the party’s number on the election ballot. Saakashvili repeated the message that has been the hallmark of the UNM’s campaign, urging Georgia not to return to the past and to support the current government to enable it to pursue its current programme.
On Saturday, the opposition Georgia Dream Coalition held large rallies in the capital Tbilisi and in Georgia’s second city Kutaisi. Thousands of supporters waving blue flags with the Coalition’s logo enthusiastically cheered on the Coalition’s leader Bidhzina Ivanishvili who slammed the government for its failures particularly in field of governance. Ivanishvili said that his party will not allow criminal godfathers to be replaced by a government of godfathers and said that the present government will for ever be remembered for its torture of prisoners and abuse of power.
The large political events of the last days went on without incident, thanks to strict management exercised by the political movements themselves, something that has been positively noted by those observing the process. More…
The Georgian Young Lawyers Association has issued a statement in which its raises concerns about arrests of dozens of people in Georgia from 21-24 September. In a statement, the respected NGO which has an excellent track record of twenty years working for human rights in Georgia stated the following:
In response to the recent frequent administrative arrests in Georgia, GYLA would like to state that identity and status of certain individuals, their political or civil activities and circumstances of their arrest as well as proceedings where court ordered administrative imprisonment against them raises doubts about motivation of measures applied.
GYLA is particularly concerned with the fact that during recent days there has been a frequent cases of application of administrative detention. According to various reports, from September 21 to September 24, there were total of 23 administrative arrests on charges of disobedience to the police in several cities of Georgia . Some of the detainees are representatives of or associated with the opposition coalition Georgian Dream, including Davit Patsatsia arrested on September 21, and Kakhaber Zhorzholiani arrested on September 23. The detainees’ relation with the coalition Georgian Dream was confirmed by one of the representatives of the coalition, who informed GYLA that the detainees are coordinators and members of the coalition’s mobile group. The detainees also include persons actively involved in recent protest assemblies – Dachi Tsaguria and Beka Aladashvili, arrested on September 22, whose interests were defended by GYLA’s representative in court. More…
Speakers at an event on the Georgian elections held at the E{PC in Brussels on 19 September 2012.
The leading Brussels think tank, The European Policy Centre (EPC), on 19 September hosted a round table discussion on the Georgian elections with the participation of Georgian politicians, and representatives from European institutions and civil society. The well attended event was chaired by Amanda Paul, Senior Analyst at the EPC.
The different views of the Georgian political spectrum were presented by Giorgi Kandelaki, Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Georgian Parliament and an activist of the United National Movement who gave a spirited, somewhat aggressive presentation, whilst the opposition view was presented by a more statesmanlike presentation by Tedo Japaridze, Georgia former Foreign Minister and currently International Secretary of the Georgian Dream coalition.
The European perspective was given by the Estonian Ambassador to the EU Matti Maasikas, Polish MEP Krzysztof Lisek, Jacqueline Hale, a senior policy analyst at the Open Society Institute in Brussels and Dennis Sammut, Executive Director of LINKS, the London based think tank. More…
Isa Gambar, Leader of Musavat Party in Azerbaijan. Some say he won the election in 2003.
With Azerbaijan’s 2013 Presidential elections around the corner, political activists in the country are beginning to question the tactics and plans not of the government but of the opposition. For many political activists, the government’s plan is well known, and given its track record a transparent and fair transfer of power seems highly unlikely. Karina Gould follows the debate and reports for CEW. More…
Georgia goes to the polls in a few days’ time. What happens on 1 October will determine the future of the country for a long time. It is for the Georgian people to decide who they want to govern them and what sort of future they want for their country. But Europe has a duty to observe this process carefully, and to give a true and fair assessment afterwards. Thousands of observers and journalists will be in Georgia these days to do just that.
On too many occasions Europe’s vision of Georgia has been clouded by considerations that are certainly not valid for the current circumstances. Georgia has a damaged society, partly a result of a style of government in recent years that has been confrontational in its approach. The prisons torture scandal over the last days has further exacerbated the problem. The European Union and the United States, Georgia’s two main friends in the world, should have done more in the past years to help raise concerns and address serious shortcomings in the field of democratic governance, human rights and the rule of law. More…
Ahead of the 1 October Parliamentary elections in Georgia, Caucasus Elections Watch interviewed Mikheil Machavariani, Secretary General of the United National Movement, the party of government in Georgia. In this exclusive interview with Marion Kipiani, Machavariani speaks at length on the challenges and achievements of the UNM in government and of its programme for the future. This interview is part of a series with Georgian politicians. More…
In the first in a series of interviews with Georgian political leaders ahead of the 1 October Parliamentary elections, Caucasus Elections Watch interviews Irakli Alasania, Leader of our Georgia-Free Democrats, one of the coalition partners in the Georgian Dream Opposition bloc. A US Government delegation led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas O. Melia was refreshingly candid in its comments whilst on a pre-election visit to Georgia, sending clear and unambiguous messages. Karina Gould discusses the visit and wonders if the west’s approach of dangling the carrot of future Euro-Atlantic integration will be enough to secure a good election for the Georgian people. More…
Amidst all the controversy surrounding the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia it is sometimes easy to forget the issues at stake, and what the parties stand for. Marion Kipiani has been going through the election programmes of four major Georgian political parties to compare their positions on a range of issues
In the latest issue of Caucasus Elections Watch she summarises the position of the United National Movement, Georgian Dream, the Christian Democratic Movement and the New Rights Party on issues ranging from Education and health care to the country’s territorial integrity.
