While a large number of Georgians think the country is going in the wrong direction, the fact that they are judging the country’s performance based on issues rather than political partisanship alone is a good sign. [Read more…]
Opinion | Ivanishvili clings to a frayed political brand while facing a new kind of opposition
Shota Kincha is a staff writer at OC Media.
On the eve of the 19 May by-elections in eight municipalities and for a parliamentary seat in Tbilisi’s Mtatsminda District, the Georgian Dream party, chaired by Georgia’s informal ruler Bidzina Ivanishvili, faces a potential new rival that could potentially mobilise the party’s estranged base — the Tbilisi elite. [Read more…]
Five Georgian officials convicted over Robakidze killing cover-up
Tbilisi City Court (/court.ge)
Five former senior officials have been convicted of attempting to cover up the 2004 killing of 19-year-old Buta Robakidze by police. The verdict came after over a decade of campaigning by the victim’s family and rights groups, who had claimed the case had been shelved. [Read more…]
Clashes on road to Telavi as police block protesters from Georgian presidential inauguration
Police set up makeshift barricades with buses, fire engines, and police pickup trucks. (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
Opposition protesters clashed with police on Sunday after they were prevented from entering the east Georgian city of Telavi, where Salome Zurabishvili was being sworn in as president. In her inauguration speech, Georgia’s fifth president called for national unity and an end to ‘political confrontations’. [Read more…]
Georgian opposition gives government 16 December ‘deadline’
Sunday UNM rally (Grigol Vashadze/Facebook)
Leaders and supporters of the United National Movement-led opposition coalition gathered in central Tbilisi on Sunday demanding the government negotiate with the opposition before the president-elect’s inauguration day.
Controversy over Georgia’s midweek presidential run-off date
Salome Zurabishvili and Grigol Vashadze (RFE/RL)
Georgia’s Election Administration has set the date for the second round presidential election for 28 November — a Wednesday. The midweek date was heavily criticised by the opposition and several major civil society groups.
Zurabishvili and family ‘receive death threats’ from opposition supporters
Salome Zurabishvili (centre) with her daughter Ketevan Gorjestani and son Teimuraz Gorjestani (Mari Nikuradze/OC Media)
Georgian Dream–endorsed presidential candidate Salome Zurabishvili and members of her family received SMS and audio death threats from ‘former military officers’, she announced on Monday. [Read more…]
Georgia’s Vashadze promises ‘snap parliamentary election’ if elected president
Grigol Vashadze (Facebook)
The opposition candidate in Georgia’s second round presidential election, the United National Movement’s (UNM) Grigol Vashadze, has promised snap parliamentary elections if elected. Meanwhile, chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili promised ‘remarkable’ changes ‘within a year’. [Read more…]
Georgian Dream MPs warn of ‘civil war’ if Vashadze elected
Presidential candidates Salome Zurabishvili and Grigol Vashadze casting their ballots (Mari Nikuradze, Facebook)
Georgia’s political scene is heating up as the country braces for a presidential run-off election. After Georgian Dream–endorsed Salome Zurabishvili failed to win a majority in the first round, members of the ruling party warned of ‘violence’ or a ‘civil war’ if the opposition’s Grigol Vashadze comes out on top. [Read more…]
Analysis | Georgia’s tapes scandals suggest something is rotten at the top of Georgian politics
The Omega Tapes scandal, and now secret recordings of former official Mirza Subeliani, suggest Georgia’s government has serious questions to answer.
