Sunday, June 7, 2026

DFWatch staff

Georgia's richest to launch opposition movement

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The financier Bidzina Ivanishvili is satisfied so far with the impact he has had, after announcing he would challenge the ruling party in the next election by founding a new party and buying a TV station. According to his press secratary, Irakli Tripolsky, Ivanishvili’s first statement “caused deep resonance in the society”. Next step will … Read more

Sarkozy to Georgia: more reforms needed

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French president Nicolas Sarkozy told Georgians Friday that the country must strengthen democracy through further reforms if it wants to move closer to EU membership. A few thousand people were in or around Freedom Square in the center of Tbilisi while Sarkozy held his speech this afternoon but many seemed uninterested and left before he … Read more

Gate crashing the President's vineyard

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The reason journalist Shalva Ramishvili wanted to get into Mikheil Saakashvili’s vineyard on Sunday was that the president was hosting a number of other TV journalists there. Georgian TV viewers have become accustomed to these events, which are often broadcast live on several of the national channels, all of which are widely believed to be … Read more

President defends 26 May dispersal: 'we have improved since 2007'

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President Saakashvili maintains that the deadly police action last May was necessary. President Mikheil Saakashvili has no regrets about issuing the order which led to the police clearing the area in front of parliament the night before the Independence Day rally. An opposition movement led by former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze had gathered around 300 … Read more

Leak shows U.S. believed secret tapes 'turned the tide' for Saakashvili in 2008 election

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The United States ambassador at the time thought that two recordings which were televised by Saakashvili’s government right before the presidential election in January 2008, decided the final outcome in his favor. The two clandestinely acquired tapes purportedly proved that one the president’s challengers  to the presidency had plans to commit a coup d’etat. The … Read more

Privatization will not mean losing control, government guarantees

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As Georgia makes a new push to find more investors who will have a stake in its most strategically important assets, like the post and railways, the state will keep a controlling share of the stocks. Chair of the financial budgetary committee, Zurab Melikishvili, made the promise today during a debate in parliament about a … Read more