Georgian civil society addresses international organizations
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Tuesday, September 10
Representatives of the civil society organization in Georgia published a special statement towards international organizations, sharing their concerns regarding the quality of democracy, media and political freedoms, corruption and eventual state capture that the country is facing today.
“We are alarmed by the recent developments in Georgia, which have been hallmarked by the utmost concentration of power in the hands of the ruling political party, thus dangerously undermining the balance of power and the viability of institutions,” reads the statement.
The letter also reads that the situation is further aggravated by the factor of “informal governance” undertaken by the former Prime Minister of Georgia, the leader of the ruling party Mr. Bidzina Ivanishvili, who, “being the richest man in the country has dominated the political landscape in Georgia, since 2012, and even after his resignation from the PM post in 2013, effectively remains in control behind the curtains.”
“Ivanishvili interferes and influences each and every important issue and has people personally loyal to him appointed as the heads of all important independent institutions, thus creating leverage of influencing over them. This is the case with the Prosecutor’s Office, law-enforcement institutions, judiciary, various ministries, and state agencies. It is according to the will and decision of Mr. Ivanishvili that Prime Ministers of Georgia resign and are elected, circumventing any political process,” reads the letter.
According to the statement, the Georgian leadership has failed to demonstrate the political will to address the outstanding problems in the field of anti-corruption policy in recent years, as the statement reads, the authorities have repeatedly failed to respond effectively to credible allegations of corruption against high-ranking officials and other influential individuals with links to the ruling party.
The statement also focused on the elections of 2018, as it reads, the extreme political polarization, abuse of state resources in favour of the ruling party, large scale vote buying, alleged cases of intimidation, negative and slandering media campaigns against political opponents, as well as excessive financial resources in the hands of the ruling party have further contributed to the grim picture.
Talking on the freedom of media, as the statement reads, “following the ownership changes of Rustavi 2, the most popular opposition TV station, media pluralism has been under serious threat. The latest prosecution measures (indictment) taken by the law-enforcement against the former director of Rustavi 2 (Mr. Nika Gvaramia), and a family member of the owner of the independent station TV Pirveli (Vakhtang Tsereteli), leads to the conclusion that the government might be exerting pressure on media representatives and organizations that are believed to have an editorial policy critical towards the government.”
“With this short resume, we wanted to bring to the attention of you, friends of Georgia, the dire state of affairs in terms of the democratic backsliding and state capture, and wanted to request your continued interest and engagement with Georgian affairs, with the aim to pressure the leadership of the country to bring about the democratic change which would be consistent with Georgia’s declared goal of joining European Union and NATO,” reads the statement of the representatives of the civil society.
According to the Vice-Speaker of the Parliament, Tamar Chugoshvili, talking about the consternation of power is “utter nonsense.”
As Chugoshvili said, “the most that can be done to deconcentrate is to change the electoral system. You know that the parliament will see a shift to a proportional electoral system. The change in the electoral system ensures that parliament is more representative, with many political powers within it, and the proportion of power distribution is different than it has ever been in the country.”
The statement of civil society is signed by 14 Georgian NGOs.
