TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party has dashed the opposition’s hopes of holding early elections for parliament in 2022 as a spokesman ruled it out entirely regardless of how few votes Georgian Dream will be able to get in the local elections this October. “Even if Georgian Dream gets 1% in the local elections, no parliamentary elections … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–A recently retired prime minister is one of Georgia’s most popular politicians, according to a new survey published by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on Monday. Giorgi Gakharia, who resigned in February citing disagreement with his party colleagues over the detention of UNM leader Nika Melia, is liked by 65% of respondents, far more … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party on Saturday elected former party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze as new chairman, after its billionaire founder stepped down. The choice of a new leader and new composition of the political council at the party convention are important developments for the party that came to power in 2012 and secured election in 2016 … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–After talks between Georgian Dream and the opposition failed to defuse the political crisis, the ruling party in Georgia has started to weigh in with threats of revoking registration for the largest opposition party and stripping others of state funding. On Thursday, Irakli Kobakhidze, the Georgian Dream executive secretary, said that a bill against … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia has named the plenary session hall of the parliament building after the country’s first president since independence. Parliament’s decision on Tuesday to name the hall after Zviad Gamsakhurdia seems to be the outcome of a rivalry between Georgia’s top political forces that are trying to woo the thousands of Georgians who revere the … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Nika Gvaramia, head of the opposition TV channel Rustavi 2, calls the ruling party-backed presidential contender a ‘traitor’. GD party secretary Irakli Kobakhidze responds by calling Gvaramia a ‘fascist’. Kobakhidze, who is the speaker of Georgia’s parliament, slammed the Rustavi 2 director Monday morning at a press conference. “The Society had been waiting in … Read more
TBILISI, DFWatch–Four miners died after a methane gas explosion in a coal mine in Tkibuli, Georgia, Monday morning, prompting the temporary closure of the mine.
A further six were injured and brought to hospital. Two of them are still in a serious condition,
TBILISI, DFWatch–The speaker of Georgia’s parliament on Thursday slammed a report by the US based organization Freedom House, accusing its local contributors of being hostile to the Georgian government and the Trump administration.
Using extraordinarily strong language
TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia’s ruling party will defer until 2024 to fulfill one of its main promises: to overhaul an election system that has favored the incumbent force for decades.
The system of single-mandate districts, so-called majoritarians, was supposed to have been phased out
TBILISI, DFWatch–A meeting summoned by the Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has become the latest episode in the downward spiral of deteriorating relations between him and the ruling Georgian Dream party.
On Thursday, Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze