Latest Articles about Georgia
GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES ON THE CONFRONTATION PATH AGAIN
On January 29 a dozen opposition parties and three of the six losing presidential candidates issued an ultimatum-like list of 17 demands to Georgian authorities (Civil Georgia, January 29). The declaration is formally addressed to Parliament Chair Nino Burjanadze, because the oppositionists do not recognize... MORE
GEORGIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION ADDS TO INTERNAL LEGITIMACY
On January 14 U.S. President George W. Bush telephoned his congratulations to the reelected president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. Summarizing Bush’s position and the two presidents’ conversation, U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told the press aboard Air Force One that Saakashvili had “clearly won... MORE
POST-ELECTION EMOTIONS RUN HIGH AMONG OPPOSITION LEADERS
The U.S. and other statements recognizing the Georgian election’s validity come not a moment too soon. Such recognition can at least to some extent dissuade Georgian opposition leaders from resorting to risky confrontation tactics. Opposition leaders threaten to call continuous demonstrations demanding a recount or... MORE
GEORGIA BETWEEN RULE OF LAW AND THE “GEOPOLITICS OF RUSTAVELI AVENUE”
On January 13 Georgia’s Central Electoral Commission (CEC) approved and released the final, official results of the January 5 pre-term presidential election. The process took longer than expected, largely because of contentious counting of disputed votes from a number of precincts, amounting to decimal points... MORE
GEORGIA: OPPOSITION THREATENS TO OVERTURN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AMID GROWING INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF THE RESULTS
On January 8 the runner-up presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze (with 27% of the votes cast, according to the provisional final returns) headed a group of opposition leaders that burst into Central Electoral Commission (CEC) offices and encircled CEC chairman Levan Tarkhnishvili. They threatened to evict... MORE
INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS ASSESS GEORGIA’S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION POSITIVELY
International observers’ assessment of Georgia’s January 5 presidential election is substantially positive. More than 1,000 international observers, long-term and short-term, were on hand. This is almost certainly an all-time high ratio to a country’s population for any election in former Soviet-ruled countries. The Georgian government... MORE
OPPOSITION REJECTS WESTERN OBSERVERS’ ASSESSMENT OF GEORGIA’S ELECTION
Mikheil Saakashvili seems set to narrowly win reelection as president of Georgia in the January 5 balloting. With the votes from 2,780 of the country ’s 3,511 precincts counted, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) reported at 12 noon GMT on January 7 that Saakashvili has... MORE
BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI: FROM RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN TO GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL CLAIMANT (part one)
Badri Patarkatsishvili is the most powerful, albeit not the most popular, among the opposition candidates in Georgia’s snap presidential election on January 5. The oft-used designation of Patarkatsishvili as an “oligarch” is a misnomer in the Georgian context. Oligarchy involves a group, but Georgia does... MORE
BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI: FROM RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN TO GEORGIAN PRESIDENTIAL CLAIMANT (part two)
Patarkatsishvili had set up his fully owned Imedi media holding in 2002 and the Imedi television channel in 2003. Given Georgia’s meager advertising market, Imedi was a money-losing enterprise, heavily subsidized from Patarkatsishvili’s funds. It cost him some $20 million annually, according to Georgian financial... MORE
BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI’S PROGRAM: BUYING THE ELECTION TO BUY GEORGIA
Today (December 18) the tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili publicized his socioeconomic program as a presidential candidate via his fully owned media holding, Imedi. Addressing Georgia’s voters from his temporary London domicile in the run-up to the January 5 presidential election, Patarkatsishvili pledged to: Cover the expenses... MORE