TBILISI, DFWatch – It was just another day in court for the lawyers of Bidzina Ivanishvili, in a series of legal troubles that some people describe as kafkaesque. After throwing himself into the political ring in October 2011, the billionaire is still without a […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – President Mikheil Saakashvili says his first priority is the development of agriculture. Manana Manjgaladze, the president’s spokesperson, said this at a briefing Tuesday. Georgia is considered to be an agricultural country. But the government is […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia’s Interior Ministry accuses an opposition advisor of having tried to bribe a policeman into recording what was being said at meetings in the police. One person is arrested who is an associate of Irakli Sesiashvili, one of opposition […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A democracy campaign in Georgia is gathering signatures in support of their law proposal about diversity in media, after the government said it is against it. The campaign called This Affects You Too has developed a law proposal which would […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian law enforcement will have access to a new DNA database developed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The so-called CODIS database will be run by Georgia’s national forensic service, and will mainly be used by law enforcement. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia demands that international observers and Georgian specialists are allowed to observe monuments in the breakaway region Abkhazia. The request comes out of concern that Georgian inscriptions and depictions on monuments will be damaged during […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A democracy campaign in Georgia expresses concern about the order to switch off Channel 9, a TV station owned by Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wife. The campaign This Affects You Too is also concerned about the switching off of radios in minibuses in Tbilisi […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A regulatory body in Georgia has decided that a TV station belonging to associates of the opposition billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili must go off air. Channel 9 was started only months ago, as a competitor to the strongly pro-government TV […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A proposal by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meant to promote peace and understanding in the Georgian conflict areas has been briskly rejected by the Kremlin as a lie. Clinton said the U.S. will recognize something called ‘neutral […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after meeting with government and opposition that everything now depends on the Georgian people. Georgians will vote in a parliamentary election in October and a presidential election in 2013, which […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – President Saakashvili’s promise to fix the teeth of socially vulnerable people remains just a promise. The president’s office does not even know who is responsible for implementing the program. But the president is still giving promises about giving […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Georgia, Speaker of Parliament Davit Bakradze would like to see the visit `end with a specific decision’. But he doesn’t say exactly what this decision this would be, nor does he want to […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A government commission set up to monitor usage of administrative resources during the elections is calling for a halt in the dismissal of ministry employees before the elections are over with. Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zghuladze released a […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Ahead of a visit to Georgia by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, democracy campaigners are appealing to her for support in providing a fair election environment. The campaign This Affects You Too was started in February 2012, after the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia has decided to open a national park for commercial activity. The area lies in Georgia’s western part near the Black Sea. Kolkheti National Park had status as a protected area, but part of the park will be exempted from its protected status […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia’s education minister on Monday fired the head the of National Examinations Center, which is know as a successfully reformed state body. The minister said the reason was differences over how to implement reforms. But there are suspecions […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – On May 26, Georgia’s independence day, President Mikheil Saakashvili argued that it is time for a stronger nationalism in order to undermine Russia’s influence. The call for a strengthening of nationalism came during a speech in Kutaisi at the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The parliamentary faction Christian Democrats Movement is demanding a ban on ‘immoral persons’ holding public office and wants a constitutional guarantees on prohibition of same sex marriage. The government, non-governmental organizations and the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia is attractive in regards to ease of doing business and freedom of the economy, says Martin Wansleben, head of the German Chamber of Commerce. He hopes that this will contribute to an influx of German investments to Georgia. Wansleben said […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian opposition billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili sells his development assets in Russia for USD 982.5 million. Ivanishvili, who leads the Georgian Dream coalition, says that he has already sold part of his property in Russia, and the rest […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili says 2012 has many parallels to 2008, and that NATO needs to show decisiveness to avoid a new war between Georgia and Russia. He says NATO hesitated in 2008, and must show more decisiveness at a summit in Chicago […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian government says it will solve the problems with the David Gareja monastery complex on the Georgia-Azerbaijan border. The government raised the issue after witnesses reported that Georgian citizens and tourists aren’t allowed into a […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Money transfers from foreign countries to Georgia increased 6.4 percent in April, compared to the same period in 2011. There was also an increase in money transferred abroad in April, compared to last year, according to Georgia’s National Bank. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A man Thursday set himself on fire at the parliament building because the government hasn’t helped him. Parliament employees managed to put out the fire. Then police and firemen arrived and arrested Giorgi Chikhladze. He did not resist arrest. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia is doing away with a law which guaranteed the public access to information about public officials. This means that details about the income, expenses and social benefits of public persons will remain unknown to the public. Openness in this […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The parliament in Georgia Tuesday once more modified a set of constitutional changes which were meant to let Saakashvili’s main competitor participate in elections. At the second hearing, Vakhtang Khmaladze, legal expert and representative of the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Teachers are suffering political discrimination in Georgia ahead of an important election. Only in Shida Kartli, a region bordering on South Ossetia, 21 teachers were fired because their family members supported or were member of the largest […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Saakashvili’s main political opponent Bidzina Ivanishvili will sell all his property in Russia by the end of May. The billionaire said this after it became public that his shares in companies in Russia were already sold. According to Forbes magazine, […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia is to create a new 15-year tax privilege for people who invest at least one million USD. An appropriate bill is already initiated in parliament. The government’s parliamentary secretary Gia Khuroshvili explains that the government decided […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Lawmakers in Georgia have temporarily given EU citizens political rights in the country for the next three years. The rights will expire on January 1, 2014. The constitutional amendment is widely seen as a measure to allow opposition billionaire […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A scuffle broke out Tuesday in the Georgian parliament during a debate about the Armenian genocide. Jondi Baghaturia, member of parliament (MP) for the opposition Georgian Troupe party, asked in a speech what the government is going to do regarding a […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – President Mikheil Saakashvili Monday marked the start of construction work for a new hydro power station in a mountainous region in Western Georgia. The Nenskra power station in the village Chuberi will deliver 210 megawatt when finished. According to […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The tax pressure will be relieved, sanctions liberalized and the administration will be simplified, the government has decided. Rusudan Kemularia, Deputy Finance Minister, held a briefing on Monday regarding the plan. She presented amendments to the tax […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Negotiations will start between Georgia and the U.S. at the end of May aimed at intensifying trade relations. Georgia’s Prime Minister Nika Gilauri announced this after returning from a visit to the U.S. Gilauri met the heads of the Millennium Challenge […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Saturday, the opposition party everybody expects to challenge Mikheil Saakashvili in October’s parliamentary election gathered for a founding congress in Tbilisi. Its unofficial leader, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, promised to revive agriculture […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A new law lets companies escape all debt if they go bankrupt, freeing the owners of all responsibilities. Following a decision by the government, companies in Georgia will be able to liquidate without paying debts. Creditors won’t be able to ask […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Germany is satisfied with how the negotiations between Georgia and the EU are going, to work out an association agreement. Cornelia Pieper, Germany’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, said this after a meeting with her Georgian colleague. Pieper […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian Railways is set to be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), becoming the second Georgian companies to achieve a listing, after Bank of Georgia. Prime Minister Nika Gilauri said April 12 that the government was planning to place several […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The government in Georgia does not take seriously allegations about the existence of a plan to kill President Saakashvili’s main competitor, Bidzina Ivanishvili. Full transcript here But one of the politicians in Ivanishvili’s coalition says that […]
Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani, a prince and writer who lived in the 18th century, is buried at Vsesvyatsky Cemetery in Moscow. TBILISI, DFWatch – The Georgian Foreign Ministry has formally protested against how Russia is treating a royal cemetary in Moscow. Tbilisi believes that authorities in Moscow are going ahead with construction work on the cemetary, which contains the graves of the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – President Mikheil Saakashvili’s main competitor will be allowed to participate in the parliamentary elections in October, after the government agreed to amend the constitution. Following the amendment, EU citizens can run in elections in Georgia. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Christian Democrats propose a new law which will allow Saakashvili’s main opponent to participate in elections without being a Georgian citizen. His citizenship issue is still unclear. The Georgian president revoked billionaire businessman […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia has broken off relations with a distinguished German diplomat, alleging he compared the Saakashvili regime to Nazi Germany. Dieter Boden, who negotiated a peace plan for how to solve the conflict with breakaway Abkhazia ten years ago, told […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – President Mikheil Sakashvili says Georgia as never before needs many foreign observers. “We need many international observers not only on the day of the elections but today, tomorrow, and the day after. The sooner observers arrive from the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – An opposition politician in Georgia Tuesday described in more detail what he knows about an alleged paramilitary force recently established by President Saakashvili in the west of the country. But he said documents about the illegal armed units will not […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – There are intense preparations going on between Georgia and Israel to cancel visa restrictions between the two countries. There are also talks with Israeli airlines regarding direct flights between Georgia and Israel, and Knesset is ready to give control […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – In August 2007, the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi listed twelve young women who each held special talents and one day could become powerful. DF Watch went looking for them. The embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks in 2011 is dedicated to Georgian women who held […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – German Foreign Affairs Minister Guido Westerwelle will visit Georgia on March 15 as part of a tour of the South Caucasus. Travelling with him are Markus Loning, the German Federal Government’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Pro-democracy campaigners in Georgia welcome a step by the government to change a controversial law which they believe would be used to secure Mikheil Saakashvili’s power grip over the country in an election this fall. But the groups are not satisfied […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The former Soviet republic of Georgia has simplified the definition of what an act of terrorism is. Previously, an act of terrorism was defined in the Criminal Code as causing explosion, fire, or use of weapon, in a way that is a danger to human life, […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia’s president, Mikheil Saakashvili, said Tuesday night that Georgia will lift visa requirements for all Russians. Saakashvili was holding his annual speech to parliament about the state of the nation. “I have an new initiative to unilaterally […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem, which in its time was built with the support of the Georgian king and for centuries was considered a Georgian cultural center, may placed under Georgian control. The Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili announced […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian authorities have arrested the head of security at opposition financier Bidzina Ivanishvili’s ski resort. It was officers of the Georgian finance ministry’s investigative unit which arrested Revaz Mumladze, who is head of security at the billionaire’s […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili Tuesday took his movement one step further to becoming a full-fledged party, but stopped short of assuming leadership. Ivanishvili’s citizenship was revoked by President Mikheil Saakashvili at the […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgia and Iran’s new visa free agreement has led to a tripling of travel. We take a closer look at the extent of cooperation between the two countries. The agreement about visa-free travel between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Georgia came into […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Work to construct one of the biggest hydro electric power stations in Georgia has been halted, after its Turkish investor pulled out. The Georgian government explains that the Turkish investor refused to go through with the project, and therefore a new […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – A South Ossetian ex-politician has been fired from his position as coach for Russia’s national wrestling team. Dzambulat Tedeev is an opposition candidate who tried to register for the region’s presidential election last November, but was denied […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Several leading Georgian organizations are now demanding clearer limits for the powers of the country’s party finance watchdog. The Chamber of Control itself is considering changes in its powers. The groups met Friday with the head of the Chamber of Control’s […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – The government of Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili has begun an unprecedented move to cut off the foreign funding of civil rights groups and election observers, because it believes that the groups are trying to affect the outcome of the election this fall. […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Journalists in Georgia will no longer be allowed to bring cameras into the session hall of the Parliament building. This is where plenary sessions are held. They will also be prevented from having cameras with them in the small meeting rooms where committee […]
TBILISI, DFWatch – It is one of Georgia’s most touted reforms abroad, but now lawyers who have experienced it in practice warn that the overhauled Criminal Procedure Code of 2010 isn’t working. The reform saw deep involvement by top legal expertise from […]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili says that his country's military cooperation with the United States is moving into a new phase. According Saakashvili's press spokesperson, America no longer only prepares Georgian forces for tasks like anti-terrorism or the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, but takes an active role in building Georgia's military capability. According to [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - People in Georgia are looking forward to today’s meeting between the U.S. and Georgian presidents in Washington, both of whom are near the end of their terms. Analysts speculate that the summit may be part of either of their election campaigns, or is payback for Saakashvili accepting Russia as a member of the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The government in Georgia increases the state funding of political TV ads to create a more level playing field for this year’s election. But analysts say it’s not enough. An extra 2.2 million laris, or nearly 1.3 million US dollars, will be set aside in the state budget for subsidized political [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia has reclaimed three brand names of wine that had been patented in Germany by a Russian company. The company, Moscow Wine and Spirits Company GmbH, had been selling the wine brands Tsinandali, Kindzmarauli and Khvanchkara. Irakli Ghvaladze, head of Sakpatent, Georgia's intellectual property agency, says these brands are of Georgian [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The Georgian speaker of parliament says lawmakers never rubber-stamp laws after receiving advice from the Council of Europe. Davit Bakradze was responding to criticism from a think tank that the ruling party manipulated the legislative process by changing a law after it had been submitted to the Council of Europe for [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - As Georgia is heading for potentially the first real competitive election, confusion arose Friday over different versions of the same law. A think tank says the government significantly changed a draft law which was sent to the Council of Europe (CoE) for advice. The Georgian Development Research Institute, which was founded [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgian authorities accuse the opposition movement of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili of making a fraudulent business deal. The claim is put forth in a statement posted on the web pages of the Chamber of Control's financial monitoring unit, signed by its head Natia Mogeladze. Her unit has been controlling Mr Ivanishvili's movement [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia is ready to make an exception from the travel restrictions and let a UNESCO mission enter Abkhazia in order to save a historical monument. According to Georgian legislation, the only way to legally enter or exit Abkhazian territory is by asking permission from Georgian authorities and cross over from Georgian [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Independent Georgian media units Friday signed a memorandum of mutual defense, vowing that any harassment on any of its member will lead to coordinated action by all the others. It comes after a crisis at the small independent TV station Maestro, which is still broadcasting under emergency conditions; the result of [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - President Mikheil Saakashvili says it's the Georgian nation the government of Russia has problems with, not the Georgian government, like it claims. Saakashvili's statement was a response to an appearance by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Wednesday, when he criticized one of his opponents because of his Georgian origin. Putin had [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - A Georgian parliamentarian from the governing party welcomes the idea of Georgia as location for parts of the U.S. missile defense system. Davit Darchiashvili, who heads parliament’s EU integration committee, said it while commenting statements by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that if America places parts of its missile defense in [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The government in Georgia can gain one year by delaying a court case which will decide whether to allow an opposition financier to form a political party. By that time, the parliamentary election will be over. The only legal way for the government not to allow Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili and his wife [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - A Georgian billionaire who wants to run in the election in fall may have to wait for a long time for his citizenship application. Bidzina Ivanishvili lost his Georgian citizenship in October, four days after declaring that he wants to challenge Mikheil Saakashvili's power. He needs a citizenship in order to legally run [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - A company owned by Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili claims the customs service is deliberately damaging goods as they arrive from abroad, and that this only started after he said he wanted to go to politics. His company Cartu Group says goods arriving through customs have a loss of 700 000 lari, [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Lawmakers in the Georgian capital seem to have changed a law after it was signed by the president and entered into the formal record. The law raised a chorus of objections from activists who said it violated the constitution and international conventions. Now it appears that the offending paragraph of the law has [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Several authoritative non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Georgia consider the retrospective powers of a new law amendment unconstitutional and are asking the president to veto it. The amendment imposes sanctions on political parties that have received money via private companies during the last few months, which was and still is legal until January 1. [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - As a bundle of election related bills are up for final review in parliament, it became clear Tuesday that the ruling party is against a proposal prepared by media workers about how to conduct monitoring of media fairness during the election campaign. The proposal concerns changes to the Election Code and the law [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The river which runs through Tbilisi might have its waters levels lowered, because a Turkish power company wants to tap its energy higher up. The Mtkvari, Georgia’s largest river, may be substantially weakened. This could cause problems not only for Georgians, but also in neighboring Azerbaijan, where it feeds the main drinking water [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - A Georgian opposition parliamentarian who asked authorities to map out how opposition parties receive their funding, has presented a list showing that the ruling party of President Mikheil Saakashvili is also being financed from abroad, including from Russia. The outspoken MP Giorgi Tsagareishvili’s request to the country’s chief prosecutor was originally meant to [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Givi Targamadze, chairman of Parliament's Defense and Security Committee, states that the government should use the national security concept as a daily action document. He made this statement on December 23 in parliament as the National Security Concept was approved. This is the second security concept in the history of the country. The [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - From next year, Georgian theatres will refuse to accept help from billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, culture minister Nika Rurua said on December 23. Artists are saying the government forced theatre directors to make this decision. The directors have not commented. Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has been supporting the development of Georgian culture for years. The [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia will have 6.2% growth in the economy in 2011. But the prices will have increased 10.5%. In the third quarter of 2011, Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.5% compared to last year's third quarter, and amounted to 6 203 million lari by current prices, which is nearly 38 billion US [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia will not increase the number of members of parliament. Raising the number of MPs was one of several controversial proposed changes to the election system as the country heads into an election year. Pavle Kublashvili, chairman of parliament’s judiciary committee told journalists that the plan has been scrapped after a meeting with [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Two of Mikheil Saakashvili's ministers say he won’t cling on to power as prime minister after he steps down in 2013, but the president himself refuses to give a definite answer. Prime Minister Grigol Vashadze said it is not going to happen, while Defense Minister Bacho Akhalaia went even further and promised it [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Eric Rubin, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs says that the United States supports Georgia’s aspirations towards integration with Euro Atlantic structures and NATO and is working on forming a common position regarding Georgia among the alliance member countries at NATO’s Chicago summit next May. But before the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili Friday asked the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) for permission to send one more infantry battalion. The decision requires the approval of parliament. Early indications are he is likely to get it at a special session next week. One battalion normally means 600-650 soldiers, but the government has yet [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The Georgian Minister of Regional Development is sure that the new Georgian parliament building (pictured) will be better than parliament buildings in Strasbourg and Brussels. Currently Georgia’s parliament is housed in the old historic building on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. Following a presidential decision which made changes to the constitution, the assembly will [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - An oppposition parliamentarian says the physical attack against his son was politically motivated. Giorgi Tsagareishvili, representive of the Free Democrats and head of the parliamentary faction Unity for Justice, told DFWatch that his 19 year old son, Zurab, was attacked on the street by strangers and beaten. The attack took place late at [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Another surprise bill about election reform made its way to parliament Monday, making it clear that the government intends to ignore objections from a broad section of society when it comes to party financing. Legal persons in Georgia will be prohibited from financing political parties. Only banks will be able to offer parties [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgian billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili says the time has come for ‘real Euro-Atlantic integration and not an imitation of the way to Europe.’ The statement came at Sunday’s launch party in the Tbilisi Concert Hall for the new movement called Georgian Dream. At his first press conference November 1 Ivanishvili touched on the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The brother and widow of one of Georgia’s most popular politicians in the early 2000s were both planning to go to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s launch party for the Georgian Dream movement Sunday. “I will go to the launch party as a citizen who is worried about current events in the country. I am pleased [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Gradually the ground rules for next year’s election are being laid as parliament has begun a new round of discussion about election reform. It comes earlier than expected, because recommendations from the Council of Europe (CoE) came sooner than the December 17 deadline, in the form of a working draft published on the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgians are discussing how to read the first polls done after a popular businessman decided to join politics. The polls differ drastically, which has lead many to distrust the results. According to one of them, 26.1% of the Georgian population want the newcomer Bidzina Ivanishvili as Prime Minister from 2013. 24.2% of the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch – Georgians might elect political newcomer Bidzina Ivanishvili if given the option, but the first polls after he launched his campaign differ significantly. Two polls disagree over newcomer Bidzina Ivanishvili's chances in the presidential competition. One shows him second, another shows he will trounce the ruling party's most likely candidate 32 to 13 per [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - An opposition parliamentarian claims that the government of Georgia is involved in a scheme to force a billionaire businessman and political newcomer's bank into bankrupcy. The scheme, as Giorgi Tsagareishvili describes it, involves a combination of legislative changes and a large loan from the businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili's Cartu Bank made with security in [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Two opposition blocs exchanged obscenities in parliament Tuesday over what to do about a controversial bill to increase the number of members of parliament (MPs). Georgia’s parliamentary majority is ready to reconsider the decision to increasing the number of MPs. This was decided Tuesday after a verbal confrontation with the opposition in parliament. [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The Concil of Europe's special commission about election reform has recommended that Georgia lets Bidzina Ivanishvili run in the elections even without a citizenship in the country. The Venice commission recommends that the Georgian government gives people not having Georgian citizenship an opportunity to get involved in election campaigns. Although this recommendation is [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia has concluded an advantageous deal with two Israeli businessmen. Simultaneously president Saakashvili pardons Roni Fuchs and Zeev Frenkel, claiming there is no connection with the deal. Following the deal, Georgia will pay only 1/3 of an old claim dating back to the 1990s, thus sparing the state of a 70 million US [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Tbilisi City Hall denies that the tender process to install new kiosks around the Georgian capital is not conducted objectively. In recent days City Hall has been showered in accusations. The ‘booths’ issue was been raised by the opposition Christian-Democrats at a session of the City Council, called as a response to the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The sudden attacked on an independent TV station in Tbilisi was carried out by an opposition politician from a party which was disintegrating the same day, following the advent of a popular newcomer. The man behind the attack is the last remaining leader of a party called the Georgian Party. All his fellow [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The crisis continues at independent Georgian TV station Maestro, as suspicion is growing that the interference is politically motivated. Financier Bidzina Ivanishvili for the first time came to Maestro’s studios Tuesday evening for a live conversation on a regular discussion program called Pirdapiri Saubari (Direct Talk). Wednesday morning before daylight, the station's manager [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The dreaded specter of new unrest in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia has not abated, as the Supreme Court cancels the presidential elections as fraudulent and the authorities announce new elections in Spring. According to the news agency RIA Novosti, Amiran Diakonov, chairman of the de facto legislative committee, said that the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - In Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia people are waiting for the results of the second tour of the de facto presidential elections. Early results indicate that opposition candidate Alla Dzhioyeva is heading for victory. According to Bela Plieva, chairman of Tskhinvali’s de facto Central Election Commission (CEC), elections have been completed and [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Representatives of Georgian press are planning a demonstration in front of Tbilisi City Hall on Tuesday, November 29. Their demand is for the City Hall to stop harassing the free press. This comes after Tbilisi City Hall began to take away press newspaper booths in the capital, which is the main distribution channel [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The Georgian press, which has long been a stronghold of independence, is warning it is in danger of being wiped out by a new distribution system which could be used to censure their access to customers. Newspapers in Georgia are almost totally reliant on street sale. Therefore news stands are the only way [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili is one step closer to knowing whether he will be allowed to run in Georgia’s coming parliamentary and presidential elections through ordinary avenues, as Tbilisi’s city court schedules his pre-trial session for December 5. The issue before the court is whether to give him back his Georgian citizenship. But Ivanishvili [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - A leading legal expert says the new rules on party financing will severely hamper opposition parties as Georgia enters two consecutive election years. The new rules are widely seen as a move to make it more difficult for billionaire philanthropist Bidzina Ivanishvili to use his wealth to claim political power. They will criminalize [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The government has secretly sent a bill to the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission which seems to block Bidzina Ivanishvili's last option for using his wealth to build an opposition movement. Private companies and organizations are prohibited from financing political parties. Individuals will have the right to give a maximum of sixty thousand [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - For the last three weeks Georgian television station Adjara TV has been broadcasting in violation of the constitution and the law on broadcasting. The Georgian government is responsible by not passing a law which would split it off from the autonomous republic’s authorities. Adjara TV has been operating as a branch of the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - 123 lawyers have been put in jail the last 7 years, and tell horrific stories of beatings and rape. But EU parliamentarians Thursday decided not to mention the lawyers in their criticism of Georgia. Krzysztof Lisek, speaker of the European Parliament on Georgia issues, was in Tbilisi Friday discussing the latest resolution with [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili hopes that the negotiations about a free trade agreement with the EU will be completed ahead of schedule. The president said this after a meeting with Catherine Ashton, EU's vice-president and high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. Ashton is in Georgia within the South Caucasus visit frameworks. [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Just as the government is getting ready for a nationwide tour to promote its new ten point plan for developing the country, the opposition Christian Democrats say the plan should first be discussed in parliament. “Parliament is a place, where the main positions should be heard, especially when it comes to issues like [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Free Democrats leader Irakli Alasania asks the government to put the the latest constitutional change to the people in a referendum, calling it an illegal decision. The process is already in motion to change the constitution and increase the number of members of parliament from 150 to 190. But most of the opposition [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Changes in how the leader of Georgia's Adajara region is chosen raises further suspicion that power is being concentrated in the office of the prime minister, increasing fears of a Putin scenario. The president has agreed with the government about the candidacy of the Chairman of the Adjara’s Autonomous Republic of Georgia. He [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - ‘Russia and Georgia: looking for a solution’ – this is the title of a new collection of articles on Russia-Georgia problems, published by Russian and Georgian experts. With the help of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), and support from the EU and the UNDP project COBERM (Confidence Building Early [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The government is retracting on several of its eleventh-hour changes to the Georgian election law, but stands firm on not allowing video surveillance in polling stations and defends the right of governors to participate in the election campaign. This emerged Friday in comments made by a member of the editorial group which has [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia is to build its own list of known terrorists, and seize the property of persons designated as terrorists by the UN. Specifically the bill will amend the law on Anti Money Laundering Support. Initiators are MPs Andro Alavidze and Kakhaber Anjaparidze. If passed, the bill will establish a new commission which will [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The leader of the Republicans for the last two years, David Usupashvili, was reelected Wednesday by 600 party delegates in a secret ballot at a specially gathered party congress. The to party’s charter requires there to be a congress held once a year, at which the party leadership is chosen. A new computer [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia will change the way refugee status is regulated, after a bill was introduced in parliament. The new bill on Refugee and Humanitarian Status is quite lengthy in comparison with the 1998 Law about Refugee Status, which it replaces. The government explains the changes with a need for legal refinement on a number [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Saakashvili promises that the first session in the brand new parliament building in Kutaisi will be held on May 26, 2012. To keep this promise it is necessary to either violate the constitution or change it. The third part of the current constitution, which was amended last year this time, deals with the rules [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - As less than a year is left until Georgians will go to the polls again, the government should have been moving ahead with a commission to go through the electoral roll, following a rush law amendment, but as of now the commission has not yet been set up. To have such a commission [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The Public Defender in Georgia is to get a more active role in the courts and will also do more monitoring of conditions in social institutions. The slightly increased powers comes following a decision by the government, after a bill was introduced to amend the Law about the Public Defender, prepared by Lasha [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - A journalist working for Georgia's Public Broadcaster (GPB) is under threat of being dismissed for asking a question the government didn't like at Bidzina Ivanishvili’s press conference Tuesday. The reason was that he asked a question which the broadcaster's leadership thinks is an admission that their journalists are instructed by the government about [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Experts here in Tbilisi think the government is ‘trying to find legislative methods to put pressure on Ivanishvili’, following a government initiative about strengthening financial monitoring under the pretext of combating money laundering. Amendments will be made to the law called Anti-Money Laundering Support. The initiators are ruling party parliamentarians Zviad Kukava, Andro [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The election reform has been postponed for two months. It should have ended by the end of October, but is delayed until the end of December. The government explains the delay with the need to wait until the Venice Commission publishes its final conclusion. A few days ago, Venice Commission chairman Tomas Markert, [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - As his last best option for entering Georgian politics was blocked, Bidzina Ivanishvili's allies are experiencing unprecedented trouble as two officials aligned with him in the Tbilisi city council are fired from their positions. As if it was not enough that Bidzina Ivanishvili's citizenship was taken away, it is creating a firestorm of [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The Venice Commission has asked the government to change the proposed new Electoral Code, after going through all the issues envisaged in the proposed new law, both things that were agreed with the opposition and the ruling party's eleventh-hour "surprises". Council of Europe envoys made their critical stance clear at a special briefing [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia has agreed to a proposal from Swiss intermediaries which if adopted will lead to Russia becoming member of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The Russian position is not yet known. Russia joining WTO has become more of a pressing issue during the last few years. What stood in the way was the [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - When the government recently killed financier Bidzina Ivanishvili's plan B for entering politics, it claimed only to be acting on the advice of the Council of Europe. Now it turns mum on exactly where and when the CoE has made such a recommendation. After his citizenship was taken from him, the only way [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The government is going to take away financier Bidzina Ivanishvili's last chance to enter Georgian politics, according to a group of experts and NGOs who have seen the details of a new proposal that will make it illegal for organizations and businesses to fund political parties. The proposal comes out of the Ministry [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgians living abroad will get the right to visit their home country without a visa, get a grant to study in their homeland and to represent Georgia at sports events. A person gets the new rights after receiving a special status, which means they will become equal with Georgian citizens in some regards, [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The popular newcomer in Georgian politics was promptly denied having his citizenship restored today by a Tbilisi court, thereby seemingly blocking his progress towards power in the country. Tbilisi City Court ruled against repealing a presidential decree of October 11 which took away Bidzina Ivanishvili and his wife’s Georgian citizenship. The court's ruling [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - Georgia imposes three months isolation for prisoners who misbehave. The opposition fears that the government is getting ready for a ‘new wave of repressions’. There are suspicions now of what the motive is for the new bill to change the Imprisonment Code. After the amendments come into force, the prisoners may be cut [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - America will be expecting to see a democratic transition of power in Georgia in the presidential election in 2013, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said during a press briefing here in Tbilisi yesterday. Reactions have varied from the opposition seizing on the use of the phrase "transition of power" as [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - They have taken away his citizenship, accused his bank of laundering money, arrested a friend of his son and disarmed his bodyguards, but in all of these cases the authorities in Georgia are not commenting beyond stating the facts. Since he almost two weeks ago set out on a mission to remove president [...]
TBILISI, DFWatch - The chair of Georgia's media regulatory commission keeps back from interfering when TV stations break the advertising rules. His inaction as a watchdog leader is to his own personal benefit. The chair, Irakli Chikovani, has a 35% share in Magi Style Media Ltd, which sells TV airtime to advertisers. Therefore, the chairman's private [...]
Georgia's ruling party has made it illegal for a political candidate to let him or herself be caught up in backroom deals with campaign contributors. The opposition thinks it's done to undermine their financing. While the laws against corruption here as in other countries applies to elected officials, Georgia has widened criminal liability to also include [...]
The Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has decided to make his people pay for accessing public documents. Like in most Western countries, Georgia has a law guaranteeing citizens free and unfettered access to public information. But now the leader has made it a little bit harder for people to find out about just what authorities are up [...]
Three rights groups refuse to take part in a new system meant to guarantee every Georgian the right to vote, because they think the reform may make things worse. Parliament has just decided to establish a new system for going through the voters rolls and make sure that every citizen who has a right to vote [...]
Georgia's light infantry Battalion #31 has just left for Afghanistan. It consists of 749 soldiers and will replace Battalion #33. The troop Georgian replacement takes place within the framework of the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) operation in the country. The Georgian peacekeeping battalion will carry out its mission alongside American troops in Helmand province. They [...]
Two observers from the Council of Europe (CoE) have asked Georgia's ruling party to stop coming up with surprise changes in a draft law without going through the normal democratic procedures. At least according to one of the opposition politicians, two rapporteurs from the Monitoring Committee of the CoE's Parliamentary Assembly asked Georgia's ruling party to [...]
The authorities in Georgia have stripped the country's richest man of his citizenship, just as he was preparing to launch a new opposition movement aimed at unseating president Mikheil Saakashvili in elections the coming two years. Revoking Bidzina Ivanishvili's citizenship effectively means that he can't legally take part in political activities nor fund political parties, nor [...]
Two thirds of Georgians think of themselves as unemployed. Living conditions are so dire that the question of territorial integrity has become secondary. But Georgians still welcome the government’s reforms, National Democratic Institute (NDI) Georgia director Luis Navaro said as he met journalists to present the results of a fresh survey. The three top priorities for [...]
Government wants to reform the antimonopoly service and give it new tasks. But its budget is to stay the same next year. Experts think it's doubtful whether there will be any real change in how the service operates, which the European Union is demanding from Georgia. A well-functioning antimonopoly service is the most important [...]
There is rising confusion after President Saakashvili said that the first parliamentary session in Kutaisi will be on the next national day, May 26, 2012. He said this two days ago at the opening of a new House of Justice in the city. But according to the Georgian constitution, parliament can only convene in Kutaisi after [...]
Prosecutors in Georgia will get powers to monitor suspicious money transfers before they are carried out. But this will require a court warrant. Parliament’s decision means that after getting a court's approval, the prosecutor's office can ask that a bank account be subject to a strict control regime: every time there is a transfer [...]
The Georgian government is to start handing out funds to select players in the whole non-public sector, after a decision in parliament. Power to hand out money will reside with ministries. The effort is not limited to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), but may also include educational institutions and branch offices of foreign think tanks as well as [...]
Work to improve the Georgian election environment has ended as a draft has been sent off to the Council of Europe's Venice Commission for review and the government promises that parliament will not start its review until the results of the review are clear. It's hard to say what the Venice Commission's conclusions will be and [...]
