Georgia’s Foreign Agent Law

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Irakli Kobakhidze. Photo: Mariam Nikuradze/OC Media.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Georgian Dream to keep Kobakhidze as PM

by OC Media

•2 min read

Georgian Dream’s political council has approved party founder Bidzina Ivanishvili’s recommendation to keep Irakli Kobakhidze as prime minister. The political council convened on Thursday to nominate Georgian Dream members for the several posts. The official results of 26 October’s elections gave the ruling Georgian Dream party a large majority, with 54% of the vote. However, local media and observer groups have documented widespread vote rigging by the ruling party. The party’s executiv

Democracy

ECHR registers case against Georgia’s foreign agent law

by OC Media

•2 min read

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has registered a case against the foreign agent law adopted amidst mass protests in Georgia, according to the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA). The controversial foreign agent law has been sent to the ECHR for review on behalf 136 civil organisations in Georgia, including GYLA, as well as four private Georgian citizens. On Wednesday, GYLA cited six separate articles of the European Convention on Human Rights that the law allegedly violat

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Weimar Triangle: Georgia’s EU bid to remain stalled unless problematic laws are repealed

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

France, Germany, and Poland, known as the Weimar Triangle, have expressed their concern regarding voting irregularities in Georgia’s elections, noting that they cannot support the start of EU accession negotiations unless Georgian Dream’s controversial foreign agent and anti-queer laws are repealed. On Thursday, Weimar Triangle leaders French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk issued a joint statement on Georgia’s post-election situ

Officers from Georgia’s Special Tasks Department standing by new police equipment via the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Georgian riot police purchase new water cannons

by OC Media

•2 min read

Two days before the parliamentary elections, Georgian Interior Minister Vakhtang Gomelauri has announced the purchase of several new water cannons for the riot police. Gomelauri’s announcement came on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the new Special Tasks Department base in Krtsanisi, a suburb of Tbilisi. The department is responsible for the riot police deployed in protests in Georgia. ‘We bought new equipment […] We bought water cannons, machines bought by the previous government in 200

Vladimir Putin during his annual press conference on 14 December 2023. Photo: Sergei Bobylev/TASS.

2019 Gavrilov’s Night Protests

Putin expands visa-free regime for Georgian citizens

by OC Media

•2 min read

Russia will allow Georgian citizens to stay in the country without a visa for more than 90 days, including for the purposes of working and studying. President Putin signed the decree to expand the visa-free regime for Georgian citizens on Thursday, which went into effect immediately. According to the document, the visa-free entry regime to Russia now applies to citizens of Georgia arriving ‘to the Russian Federation for the purpose of carrying out work activities or for a period of more t

Georgia's Constitutional Court. Official photo.

Democracy

Georgian Constitutional Court declines to suspend foreign agent law

by OC Media

•2 min read

The Constitutional Court of Georgia has declined a motion to suspend the foreign agent law pending a final ruling on its constitutionality. On Wednesday, the court announced it had agreed to hear the case against the law, more than a month after four separate lawsuits against it were filed and merged into one appeal. According to their decision, none of the law’s articles will be suspended until the case is resolved. Two of the eight judges, Giorgi Kverenchkhiladze and Teimuraz Tughushi,

Ketevan Chachava Illustration: Tamar Shvelidze/OC Media

2024 Georgian Parliamentary Elections

Opinion | Georgia’s new electronic voting system comes with risks

by Ketevan Chachava

•5 min read

The deployment of new electronic voting systems in Georgia as the country faces a critical election brings with it a number of risks. With less than a month to go before the 2024 parliamentary elections on 26 October, Georgia’s voters are facing a critical juncture with the potential to transform the country’s immediate and long-term future. Alongside an unprecedented political landscape and a first ever fully proportional election, voters will also be faced with large-scale use of electron