Wednesday, January 7, 2026

Takeover of Ivanishvili company runs its course

Imeda Nikuradze was sentenced to 20 days administrative detention for resisting the police during the takeover. (IPN.)

TBILISI, DFWatch – A lawyer for a company affiliated with the largest opposition bloc in Georgia has been sentenced to twenty days administrative detention for resisting police.

His lawyers say Tbilisi City Court’s decision was illegal and are going to appeal.

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Speaker of Parliament is abusing his position

Speaker of Parliament Davit Bakradze is bringing with him employees of the parliament to do campaigning for the National Movement party. (IPN.)

TBILISI, DFWatch – Now that the date of Georgia’s parliamentary elections has been set to October 1, political parties are under certain restrictions set by law, that last until Election Day.

One restriction is that it is prohibited to use administrative resources for campaigning.

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USA: democratic transfer of power is needed

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 a … Read more

Georgian media answers hopeful patron

Journalists Wednesday responded to the wealthiest Georgian Bidzina Ivanishvili’s call for them to form an alliance to unseat Mikheil Saakashvili, while experts debated whether Georgia had the right to revoke his citizenship. Tuesday night, the tycoon-turned-politicians had the support of at least the viewers, if not the staff, of two small cable TV stations which … Read more

Georgia bars billionaire from entering politics

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, … Read more

Grassroots movement welcomes financier's entry into politics

After being rejected by the journalists of Maestro TV, financier Bidzina Ivanishvili’s has found new allies in the anti-Saakashvili grassroots movement behind last May’s demonstrations. The People’s Assembly in a statement says Ivanishvili represents a fresh, new start to Georgian politics, and that his program fully matches the goals of the assembly. People’s Assembly is … Read more

Georgia's richest to launch opposition movement

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

Political Tbilisi skeptical to proposed new election system

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 … Read more