Freedom House: Georgia Closer to Authoritarianism in Several Parameters
Freedom House has published a new report, which says that the full or partial parliamentary boycotts of the opposition parties in Georgia, Albania, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia disrupted the work of parliaments and signaled a lack of fairness and legitimacy. Based on the report, the parliament will not be able to perform its duties properly, if it makes decisions without discussions.
"The media and civil society continued to bear the brunt of government attacks in more autocratic settings during the year, but they faced mounting difficulties in democracies as well. In a new development, smears and attacks on the judicial branch and particular judges have become a widespread phenomenon, no longer limited to high-profile cases like Poland. In 2019 and in early 2020, politicians were undermining judicial independence and the rule of law in all of the subregions covered by Nations in Transit, resulting in score declines in the Czech Republic, Georgia, Latvia, Montenegro, Poland, and Slovakia," reads the report.
Based on the Freedom House report, Georgia's rating has worsened, with the main reason being the arrest of opposition leaders, a political crisis and the appointment of judges on political grounds. The report notes that Georgia still remains a country of hybrid democracy, however, it is closer to authoritarian regimes in several parameters.
The Freedom House report assesses the degree of democracy in countries. Last year, Georgia's score was 3.29 points, however, this year the figure has slightly worsened to 3.25 points.
"While the judiciary has long been a flashpoint in Georgia’s polarized politics, arbitrary arrests and a number of controversial court cases in 2019 and early 2020 further aggravated an already tense situation. A new entrant into the political field, businessman Mamuka Khazaradze, was slapped with money-laundering charges as soon as he announced the founding of a political movement, and a more established opposition leader was sentenced to 38 months in prison in a reheated case involving the alleged misuse of public funds. In an ominous sign that such incidents would not be limited to the lower courts, the ruling majority in Parliament granted lifelong tenure to 14 new justices on the country’s Supreme Court following a “highly dysfunctional and unprofessional” appointment process," reads the publication.
"In February 2020, lawmakers from all of Georgia’s opposition blocs walked out of the legislature after the government backtracked on its promise to transition the country to a fully proportional electoral system. Had it been introduced, this system would have decreased the ruling Georgian Dream party’s chances of winning parliamentary elections again this year. The crisis was only defused when, with the help of international mediation, the parties met halfway in March," the authors of the report further note.
However, it is also emphasized that the crisis in Georgia was resolved in March 2020 when European and US diplomats stepped in to help broker an agreement to transition the country to a mixed electoral system—addressing the structural problem behind the immediate parliamentary crisis.
By Ana Dumbadze
See the full report by Freedom House here