Georgia’s troubled democratic institutions

The special parliamentary session scheduled by the president on March 13 with regard to the country’s economic troubles, might be ruined, as the majority does not intend to be present.

The Georgian Dream majority is likely to be offended by the president’s “awkward” solution and the fact will hinder them to participate in the session that was demanded by the opposition.

Some analysts think that the ruling team’s attitude to the opposition, incompetence, and the government’s approach to the president’s decisions, cause concern regarding the normal functioning of the country’s democratic institutions.

The NGO Transparency International Georgia released a special statement on March 11 reading that the government and the majority’s attitude to the session called by the president violates fundamental principles of democracy.

The NGOs speak about several problems that hinder the normal functioning of democratic institutions:

Parliament does not play the role as a controller of the government; the government’s activities disrupt the balance between its branches; fundamental principles of representative democracy are violated, as the government members are not accountable only before the majority, they are liable for the minority and other non-parliamentary parties as well.

The UNM initially appealed to the president to call a special session concerning the national currency devaluation (it has lost 29% of its value against the USD).

However, the president turned down the request, saying that the government should have been given time to implement their plan before March 5, following consultations with the International Monetary Fund representatives.

While the government failed to reveal the plan, the opposition made a repeated demand and the president took the demand into account.

Commenting on the development, the majority stated that the president stuck to the opposition’s provocative intentions and that he should have agreed on the topic with the majority initially.

Minister of Economy Giorgi Kvirikashvili stated that discussing the economic issues in the “talk show format” was unacceptable for him.

The parliament speaker said on March 11 that the extraordinary sessions initiated by the opposition aimed at triggering a fuss and nothing more.

The opposition members could not attend the government sitting on February 23 to share their visions with the economic team of ministers.

Minister of Finance Nodar Khaduri stated then that the government sitting was not a “circus show.”

Majority leader Davit Saganelidze likened the opposition’s demand to a “chronic disease.”

It should also be mentioned that the opposition United National Movement (UMN) may really need the session for scoring political points before the March 21 protest rally, where they will demand the change of the current government.

In the framework of the parliament sessions, they had chances to reveal their views and help the situation. However, they preferred to voice their opinions at the extraordinary session. UNM leader Davit Bakradze assures that they demanded the session for business and not for creating a circus.