INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS EVALUATE PRE-ELECTION ENVIRONMENT IN GEORGIA
In September 2012, three reputable international organizations – National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) – reported on a “competitive” though “polarized” pre-election environment in Georgia ahead of the October 1 parliamentary elections.
NDI expressed concerns in its interim report covering the period from August 3 to 27, over the fact that the country’s key political forces – United National Movement (UNM) and the opposition coalition Georgian Dream (GD) led by Bidzina Ivanishvili are both considering their opponent as constituting a threat to Georgia as a state. The report said that instances of violence between UNM and GD supporters during political campaigning in the regions showed that “the two largest electoral subjects are acting like enemies, not political adversaries or electoral opponents.”
Likewise the PACE delegation, after meeting with Georgian officials and political parties on September 11-12, assessed the pre-election atmosphere in the country as prone to “antagonism” where political adversaries publicly exchange accusations about each other instead of “informing voters about their views and party platforms.” The delegation termed this sort of campaign “negative” and called on the parties to abstain from any action undermining public trust in the election process. “Perceived injustices in the law are not, and cannot be, a justification for breaking the law,” the delegation said in reference to various statements reportedly made by leaders of GD on the necessity to protect their supporters’ votes in case of electoral fraud.
On the other hand, PACE urged the Georgian government to refrain from using administrative resources and restated its concerns about “the excessive and disproportionate” fines charged by the State Audit Office (SAO) to the GD candidate Kakhi Kaladze, who is a close political and business partner of Ivanishvili. On August 10, Tbilisi City Court fined Kaladze GEL 16,944,960 (about US$ 10.3 million) due to his spending of GEL 3.33 million for Georgian Dream’s political activities in violation of party funding regulations. Georgian authorities postponed the enforcement of the fine following the PACE report, which was welcomed by the organization.
On a positive note, PACE welcomed the endorsement of “must carry rules” that improved pluralism in the country’s media environment. The must curry rules implies a legislative amendment to election code, passed by parliament on June 29, which obliges TV cable providers to transmit all television channels for sixty days before the elections. Thanks to the amendment, the three key pro-opposition channels Maestro, Kavkasia and Channel 9 became available in packages offered by the largest cable networks such as Silk, Super and Caucasus TVs. The PACE delegation also applauded the work of the Voter’s List Verification Commission work to enhance the quality of the voters list.
The OSCE/ODIHR interim report, covering the period between August 22 and September 5, stated that whereas the Georgian government pledges to conduct fully transparent, free and fair elections, GD expresses distrust in the electoral process that triggers “concerns about the abuse of administrative resources and intimidation of supporters.” OSCE/ODIHR report noted that some of the provisions of party funding legislative amendments were deliberately tailored to restrict the GD leader’s financial capacities. It also criticized the SAO for its biased stance reflected in a selective approach toward electoral subjects and the imposition of excessive fines. In addition, the OSCE/ODIHR report found Georgian media outlets divided according to political outlook and lacking independent editorial policies.
Apart from the international organizations, the country’s pre-election environment was evaluated by the U.S. interagency delegation visiting Georgia on September 10-12. The head of the delegation, deputy assistant secretary of state in the bureau of democracy and human rights Thomas O. Melia, said that despite a variety of faults, the political environment in the country is conducive to ensure the full participation of all political players on equal terms. Political parties are able to travel throughout the country, hold rallies and freely deliver their massages via media sources. “We have every expectation, based on the political parties’ commitment to contain any violence and the government’s commitment that security forces will be scrupulously professional,” Melia said.
The major tendencies outlined by international observers in the run up to the October 1 parliamentary elections include both the GD’s persuasion that the government intends to falsify the election results and the belief on part of the UNM that GD “is preparing for post-election disorder” rather than for elections. These tendencies raise pre-election tensions and imply a risk of renewed instability after the elections.
the government. However, most experts say that the political elite understands that another government dismissal will bring the country to a point of no return and will search for compromises to allow the government more room for maneuver, thus allowing it to function for a longer period of time. t no final decision was taken. Armenia will most likely retain the beneficial price this winter. This is a limited burden for Russia as the quantities used by Armenia only represents a fraction of Russian exports.
