Analysis

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Explainer | Meydan TV becomes Azerbaijan’s latest independent media outlet to be repressed

•4 min read

Azerbaijan’s crackdown on independent media continues with the arrest of seven of Meydan TV’s journalists and freelancers on charges of smuggling and supporting Armenia. The campaign against Meydan TV began on 6 December with the arrest of journalist Ramin Jabrayilzada, also known as Deko. According to Jabrayilzada’s lawyer, Nemat Karimov, his client was stopped on his way home from the airport. Police confiscated his funds and claimed he had brought an illicit amount of currency into th

The protest in Tbilisi. Photo: Salome Khvedelidze/OC Media

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Explainer | After a month of simmering protests, Georgia erupted: why now?

by Nate Ostiller

•6 min read

At a moment when it appeared as if demonstrations against electoral fraud and democratic backsliding had fallen into a feeling of bitter acceptance, protests in Georgia exploded suddenly on 28 November after Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced the government was suspending its bid for EU accession until 2028. But why did the government choose to take such an unpopular move? And why was this the trigger for such mass discontent? In Tbilisi and other cities and towns across the country

AbzasMedia

Explainer | One year on in Azerbaijan’s crackdown on independent media

by Aytan Farhadova

•6 min read

November 2023 was a black month for journalists working for Azerbaijan’s independent media outlet and OC Media partner AbzasMedia, marking the beginning of a renewed crackdown against independent media. On 20 November 2023, police raided the offices of AbzasMedia, claiming to have found €40,000 ($44,000) in cash during their search. Earlier that day, both the media site’s director, Ulvi Hasanli, and its deputy director, Mahammad Kekalov, were detained at their homes. Hasanli alleged that he

Abkhazia

Explainer | How a controversial investments agreement led to the downfall of the Abkhazian president

by OC Media

•9 min read

In the early hours of Tuesday, Abkhazian President Aslan Bzhaniya announced his resignation after days of protests centred around a controversial agreement on Russian investments. Bzhaniya still intends to run in the upcoming presidential elections, which are expected to take place in February. Over the course of less than two weeks, discontent over the proposed legislation grew and morphed into a protest movement that brought down the Abkhazian government. On 30 October, an agreement on

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Ranking Georgia’s political parties by gender balance in the 2024 elections

by Shota Kincha

•5 min read

Georgia’s parliamentary elections on 26 October, unlike the previous vote, will be held without any gender quotas. As women’s representation in Georgian politics remains an issue, we have examined the electoral lists of all the major parties and groupings and ranked them based on how many women they included — and how highly they were placed. The ruling Georgian Dream party pushed through mandatory gender quotas ahead of the 2020 parliamentary and 2021 local elections in an apparent bid to pro

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Who’s who in Georgia’s parliamentary elections?

by Shota Kincha

•13 min read

Georgians will go to the polls on 26 October in crucial parliamentary elections. Unlike in previous years, this election will be held under a fully proportional system. This means parties will be allocated a percentage of parliament’s 150 seats based entirely on the percentage of votes they receive nationwide, doing away with elections for individual MPs in single-seat constituencies. However, despite calls from many smaller parties, and despite previously promising the opposite, the ruling

Analysis

Explainer | What’s in Georgia’s new anti-queer bill?

by Shota Kincha

•7 min read

The ruling Georgian Dream party has tabled a package bill of anti-queer legislation and amendments, coming in the wake of years of rhetoric condemning ‘LGBT propaganda’. OC Media breaks down the changes, their impacts, and the ruling party’s rhetoric on the subject. On 10 June, a group of ruling party lawmakers led by Parliamentary Speaker Shalva Papuashvili tabled a bill centred on a law ‘on protection of family values and minors’ and associated amendments to 18 existing laws. The bill is