DFWatch staff 
TBILISI, October 2 – Three of Georgia’s most high-profile non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have announced they will not conduct election monitoring during the country’s local elections on October 4, breaking with decades of practice. Transparency International Georgia (TI Georgia) said October 2 that it would abstain from observing the vote for the first time in its … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – South Korea’s embassy in Tbilisi has awarded a grant to Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a government decree published on September 19. The support, valued at USD 416,420, comes in the form of technical equipment and other resources to strengthen the ministry’s capacity. The Georgian government formally approved the … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Georgia’s government spending is set to increase sharply next year, with the draft 2026 budget projecting expenditures of 30.47 billion lari (about USD 11.3 billion). That is 2.53 billion lari more than the planned 2025 budget of 27.94 billion lari. According to the Finance Ministry, the proposed budget is made up … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Georgia’s government has declared October 3 a public holiday for employees of administrative bodies, according to a decree signed by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze. The order applies across state institutions but makes exceptions for financial obligations overseen by the National Bank of Georgia. This means that while government offices will close, … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called Georgia “the most successful European country” ahead of the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Copenhagen today. Speaking before the meeting, Orbán praised Georgia’s economic performance and said he would meet Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze during the summit. The Georgian PM is scheduled to … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Georgia and Azerbaijan will launch a new block-train linking the Black Sea ports of Poti and Batumi with Azerbaijan’s biggest cargo hubs around Baku, after the two railways signed an agreement in Almaty. The fixed-timetable service will run Batumi–Poti–Tbilisi–Absheron–Sumgait–Alat and offer shippers a simplified “terminal-to-door” product with predictable delivery times and … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Georgia’s government has increased funding for disaster relief efforts across the country, raising the budget to 117.1 million lari (around USD 42 million) for 2025. According to a decree published on the government’s official website, an additional 8.94 million lari has been allocated from the Regional Development Fund to support municipalities … Read more
TBILISI, October 2 – Tbilisi City Hall has rejected a request from Paata Burchuladze, founder of the “Rustaveli Avenue” movement, to install four stages in the city center for a mass rally planned on Election Day, October 4. In his application submitted on September 29, Burchuladze asked to place stages at four central sites: Freedom … Read more
TBILISI, October 1 – Georgia’s state-owned Enguri hydropower plant lost 45 million lari (about 16 million US dollars) in revenue last year by supplying free electricity to residents of Abkhazia, according to a Finance Ministry report attached to the draft 2026 state budget. The losses are not new. In 2023, the figure reached 40 million … Read more
As Georgia heads into local elections on October 4, what should have been a routine exercise in self-government has instead become wrapped in national-level polarization, radical rhetoric, and competing visions of the country’s future, according to Ramaz Sakvarelidze, in a recent interview with Interpressnews. “Today there is more polarization and more inadequacy than is typical … Read more