GEORGIA: Parliament’s First Session & more – 28th Nov 2024

Gamarjobat from Gracia! This is the Rorshok Georgia Update from the 28th of November twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Georgia.

On Monday, the 25th, the newly elected parliament gathered for its first session. Since all four opposition parties that won seats didn't recognize the election's legitimacy due to alleged vote rigging, the only elected officials that showed up were from the Georgian Dream or Otsneba.

Foreign diplomats weren't invited to the first session, breaking a tradition. Shalva Papuashvili, the Speaker of Parliament, said this was to avoid interference in Georgia's internal affairs. However, the opposition said that it was done to avoid embarrassment, as European diplomats might have refused to attend because there were still questions about election rigging and the legitimacy of parliament. President Zourabishvili also didn’t attend, calling the one-party parliament gathering a black day in Georgia's history.

While we're on the topic of political parties, on Tuesday, the 26th, the Election Administration canceled the registration and electoral lists of three opposition coalitions: The Coalition for Change - Gvaramia, Melia, Girchi, Droa, or Tsvlilebebistvis; the coalition Unity (or Ertianoba) - United National Movement (or Natsebi), and the Strong Georgia Coalition or Dzlieri, which includes Lelo. The Coalitions themselves requested the cancelation. They argued that the election results were illegitimate and didn't intend to enter parliament. They also promise to cancel their parliamentary mandates, which requires every politician to make an individual request from the Election Administration.

The opposition wants Otsneba to be the only party in parliament to delegitimize and isolate them from Western democracies. However, representatives of Otsneba believe the opposition will eventually enter parliament and claim their seats.

On the same day, Giorgi Gakharia, the leader of the party For Georgia or Sakartvelostvis, made a statement about the party's plans. He said that neither Otsneba nor Natsebi would bully him into playing by their rules. While staying vague on the details, he reiterated that the party will not legitimize the current parliament and that they don't plan to participate in the President's elections set for the 14th of December. According to Gakharia, the country is in a deep political crisis, and this won't be solved if the opposition's only plan is to cancel the mandates.

On Wednesday, the 27th, Otsneba announced Misha Kavelashvili as their candidate for the presidency. Kavelashvili is a former professional footballer, who played for Manchester City and several Swiss football clubs. He entered politics in twenty sixteen as an MP for Otsneba. In twenty twenty-two, he left Otsneba and, along with several other of their MPs, founded the People’s Power party. However, the party remains closely aligned with Otsneba, representing its even more anti-Western and conservative wing. The People’s Power party did not consider itself an opposition party; its stated goal was to be more openly critical of Europe and the U.S. All members of People’s Power were on Otsneba’s electoral list during the parliamentary elections.

Bidzina Ivanishvili announced Kavelashvili’s candidacy, describing him as the best representation of a Georgian man. Kavelashvili was one of the MPs who initiated Russian Law.

This week, Meta, the company operating Facebook and Instagram, took action against pages belonging to the Georgian state propaganda TV channels - Imedi and POSTV. Now, when users try to follow any of their Facebook pages, they receive a warning saying The page has repeatedly shared false information or The page has shared posts that repeatedly violate our community standards.

On Monday, the 25th, several of POSTV's pages were not searchable on Facebook for several hours, but came back online later on. This is not the first time Meta has taken such actions. The Facebook page of Imedi shared several misinformation posts even about U.S. elections, which Meta tagged as false.

In other news, on Tuesday, the 26th, during a meeting organized by the Commonwealth of Independent States, an organization that consists of former Soviet states, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, said that the collective West was trying to destabilize the situation in Georgia and organize a revolution by questioning election results. According to Lavrov, the West is using NGOs to achieve this goal, not just in Georgia but also in other countries of the Global South and Global East, including some of the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

On Friday, the 22nd, another Georgian fighter was killed in Ukraine. The family of the deceased, Levan Lokhiasvhili, shared the information on Facebook, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs later confirmed. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more than seventy Georgian fighters have lost their lives in the conflict. Georgians have been fighting on Ukraine's side since twenty fourteen. The Georgian Legion, which operates in Ukraine, has over 1,000 members.

Next up, the international non-profit organization Reporters Without Borders published its annual press freedom index. According to the results, Georgia ranks 103rd out of 180 countries, marking a significant decline from twenty twenty-three, when it was in 77th place. On the other hand, Armenia's situation has improved, and it is now the leader in the region, ranking 43rd. Norway is first on the list, while Eritrea holds the last place.

On Tuesday, the 26th, Vakhtang Gomelauri, the Minister of Internal Affairs, said that his department plans to spend 17 million Lari, around 6 million dollars, to create a DNA database in Georgia. The law required to establish the database has passed its first reading in parliament and is expected to be finalized this year. Gomelauri stated that providing DNA samples will be mandatory for convicted felons and defendants, while it will be voluntary for everyone else.

On another note, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is planning to build a 300-unit, five-star resort hotel and spa in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Dmitry Bolkunets, a Belarusian political analyst, shared this information on Saturday, the 23rd. It is based on documents that were leaked on an Abkhazian news portal’s telegram channel. According to the documents, Lukashenko has ambitious plans for the project, which include three restaurants, several pools, recreational areas for kids, VIP lodges, and a harbor for luxury yachts. In twenty twenty-two, during his visit to the breakaway region, the Abkhazian government gave his private investment company twenty hectares of land, where he plans to build all this.

On Tuesday, the 26th, the research institute Gnomon Wise published an analysis of Georgia's budget for twenty twenty-five. The article points out that if the current pace of economic development continues, Georgia’s economy will only catch up with the EU's poorest country (Bulgaria) by twenty forty-five and won’t reach the EU's average economic indicators until twenty seventy. The analysis concludes that the twenty twenty-five budget is not significantly different from previous ones.

The government keeps growing in size and remains focused on hiring more people in the public sector, whose employees are always more loyal to the ruling party. It also continues to significantly increase the budgets for the State Security Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to garner loyalty, raising concerns about the politicization of these institutions.

You can read the full article in Georgian in the show notes!

Wrapping up this edition, the Oscar-winning Danish director Bille August had to cancel his plans to attend the Tbilisi International Film Festival. He was set to be the festival's main guest and receive an honorary Prometheus award.

The director explained that he canceled due to an insurance policy with his production company. The terms of the policy prevent him from visiting countries with high political instability risks while working on a movie. The director said that this is a standard rule.

Since August will be absent from the festival, the honorary award will not be presented this year. The festival will take place from the 1st to the 8th of December.

Want to check out the movie screening schedule? Link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Nakhvamdis!