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May 25, 2010
Georgian Local Elections Focus Of Intense Scrutiny
On May 30, Georgians go to the polls to elect new municipal councils across
the country and the mayor of Tbilisi. In the wake of two successive
elections in 2008 (presidential in January and parliamentary in May) that
many opposition parties claim were rigged, the key issue is not so much one
of policy, or even who will win most votes where, as of procedure: will
President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (EEM) use all the
administrative resources at its disposal to preserve its hold on power, or
it will it allow a vote that is truly free, fair, and democratic?
In light of international criticism of the 2008 elections, Saakashvili has
repeatedly stressed that the local elections must be "exemplary," and
proceed "calmly" and "in an organized way." It is a measure of the
importance the Georgian authorities attach to securing a positive assessment
of the vote that they asked the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights (ODIHR) to deploy an election observation mission.
ODIHR does not generally monitor municipal elections: it did so most
recently in Moldova in 2007 and in Bosnia in 2008. But it is treating the
Georgian elections as though they were national ones, and will deploy some
200 observers.
In all, some 38 domestic NGOs and 26 international bodies will deploy
monitors, Caucasus Press reported on May 24. The international contingent
includes a group from the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities, and one from the British Embassy in Tbilisi.
Some Georgian political figures nonetheless doubt whether the presence of
such a large contingent of observers will deter procedural violations on
polling day, and how incisive the criticisms of any such violations that do
occur will be. Gogi Topadze, one of the nine candidates for Tbilisi mayor,
told the Council of Europe observers on May 4 that "elections are rigged
year after year. European observers come and say one and the same thing: the
elections were held in a democratic manner, albeit with minor violations."
Topadze said foreign observers would do better not to come at all than to
continue to offer such assessments, Caucasus Press reported.
A total of 36 political parties applied to participate in the local
elections, of which the Central Election Commission registered 26; two
subsequently withdrew. Ten of the 14 remaining parties aligned in three
blocs. Fourteen parties or blocs registered lists of candidates for election
(under the proportional system) to the Tbilisi municipal council.
Nine candidates registered for the Tbilisi mayoral ballot, including
incumbent Gigi Ugulava; former Ambassador to the UN Irakli Alasania, who now
heads the opposition Alliance for Georgia; Zviad Dzidziguri of the
opposition National Council bloc; and beer magnate and former legislator
Gogi Topuria, who heads the Industry Will Save Georgia party.
The Labor Party and former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze's Democratic
Movement-United Georgia declined to participate in the local elections.
Burjanadze and Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili both called on other
opposition parties to boycott rather than participate in an exercise that
Natelashvili described as intended to "save the authorities' collective
skin."
The 86,000-strong Armenian community of Tbilisi has expressed resentment at
the failure of both Saakashvili's EEM and prominent opposition parties to
include Armenian candidates on their lists for the elections to the Tbilisi
council.
The initial assessment of the election campaign made public on May 7 by the
OSCE election observation mission noted that despite numerous amendments to
the Electoral Code, most recently in December 2009, provisions remain in
force that "allow unlimited campaigning by political officials and the use
of administrative resources for campaign purposes." Those provisions, the
interim report said, "do not guarantee a level playing field for all
contestants."
In an attempt to minimize, if not preclude the abuse of administrative
resources on behalf of candidates representing the ruling party, a group of
Georgian NGOs under the auspices of the National Democratic Institute
drafted a memorandum on how such resources may be used. Twelve political
parties fielding candidates in the municipal elections, including the EEM
but not Industry Will Save Georgia and the Alliance for Georgia, signed that
memorandum with the Central Election Commission on May 8.
An inter-factional parliamentary group is monitoring compliance with the
memorandum, and its head told journalists on May 19 that there have been
infrequent isolated violations. The cases he cited were mostly of local
representatives of the EEM threatening to withhold social benefits from
persons who declined to pledge they would vote for EEM candidates.
But statements by the opposition National Council suggest that there is a
clear pattern of intimidation of its candidates, up to one dozen of whom
have pulled out of the race, citing pressure from the authorities in the
Kvareli, Tianeti, Sagaredjo, Lentekhi and Akhalkalaki districts, according
to Caucasus Press on May 5 and 10.
The National Council unites the Conservative and People's parties and former
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli's movement For a Just Georgia. Noghaideli
and Conservative leader Koba Davitashvili have both been subjected to
widespread media vilification for traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian
leaders in a bid to seek ways to defuse the festering tensions between the
two countries.
The Alliance for Georgia too has complained of pressure. The group's leader
in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service on May
11 that the pressure on its candidates began in April and steadily
intensified.
Malkhaz Khutsishvili, who heads the alliance's branch in Sighnaghi, told
Caucasus Press on May 12 that the local authorities were extorting money
(10,000 laris, or $5,609) from businessmen to finance the EEM's election
campaign.
Ambassador Peter Semneby, the European Union's special representative for
Georgia, noted the focus on procedure, rather than policy issues in a recent
interview with civil.ge. Semneby said that if the May 30 elections were
conducted "well," demonstrating the development of political and democratic
culture, it will mean that Georgia "has been able to overcome some of the
consequences of the previous difficult situation" and is "moving towards a
more stable institutional framework in terms of political process."
At the same time, Semneby acknowledged that this would be only the beginning
of a broader process that will encompass the adoption of a new constitution
and Electoral Code. Alluding to the frequent amendments to the constitution
since Saakashvili was first elected in January 2004, Semneby said he hoped
the new constitution and election law "will remain in place for some time
without being instrumentalized in the day-to-day political struggle."
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2010 RFE/RL, Inc.
From: A. Papazian
Georgian Local Elections Focus Of Intense Scrutiny
On May 30, Georgians go to the polls to elect new municipal councils across
the country and the mayor of Tbilisi. In the wake of two successive
elections in 2008 (presidential in January and parliamentary in May) that
many opposition parties claim were rigged, the key issue is not so much one
of policy, or even who will win most votes where, as of procedure: will
President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement (EEM) use all the
administrative resources at its disposal to preserve its hold on power, or
it will it allow a vote that is truly free, fair, and democratic?
In light of international criticism of the 2008 elections, Saakashvili has
repeatedly stressed that the local elections must be "exemplary," and
proceed "calmly" and "in an organized way." It is a measure of the
importance the Georgian authorities attach to securing a positive assessment
of the vote that they asked the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions
and Human Rights (ODIHR) to deploy an election observation mission.
ODIHR does not generally monitor municipal elections: it did so most
recently in Moldova in 2007 and in Bosnia in 2008. But it is treating the
Georgian elections as though they were national ones, and will deploy some
200 observers.
In all, some 38 domestic NGOs and 26 international bodies will deploy
monitors, Caucasus Press reported on May 24. The international contingent
includes a group from the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional
Authorities, and one from the British Embassy in Tbilisi.
Some Georgian political figures nonetheless doubt whether the presence of
such a large contingent of observers will deter procedural violations on
polling day, and how incisive the criticisms of any such violations that do
occur will be. Gogi Topadze, one of the nine candidates for Tbilisi mayor,
told the Council of Europe observers on May 4 that "elections are rigged
year after year. European observers come and say one and the same thing: the
elections were held in a democratic manner, albeit with minor violations."
Topadze said foreign observers would do better not to come at all than to
continue to offer such assessments, Caucasus Press reported.
A total of 36 political parties applied to participate in the local
elections, of which the Central Election Commission registered 26; two
subsequently withdrew. Ten of the 14 remaining parties aligned in three
blocs. Fourteen parties or blocs registered lists of candidates for election
(under the proportional system) to the Tbilisi municipal council.
Nine candidates registered for the Tbilisi mayoral ballot, including
incumbent Gigi Ugulava; former Ambassador to the UN Irakli Alasania, who now
heads the opposition Alliance for Georgia; Zviad Dzidziguri of the
opposition National Council bloc; and beer magnate and former legislator
Gogi Topuria, who heads the Industry Will Save Georgia party.
The Labor Party and former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze's Democratic
Movement-United Georgia declined to participate in the local elections.
Burjanadze and Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili both called on other
opposition parties to boycott rather than participate in an exercise that
Natelashvili described as intended to "save the authorities' collective
skin."
The 86,000-strong Armenian community of Tbilisi has expressed resentment at
the failure of both Saakashvili's EEM and prominent opposition parties to
include Armenian candidates on their lists for the elections to the Tbilisi
council.
The initial assessment of the election campaign made public on May 7 by the
OSCE election observation mission noted that despite numerous amendments to
the Electoral Code, most recently in December 2009, provisions remain in
force that "allow unlimited campaigning by political officials and the use
of administrative resources for campaign purposes." Those provisions, the
interim report said, "do not guarantee a level playing field for all
contestants."
In an attempt to minimize, if not preclude the abuse of administrative
resources on behalf of candidates representing the ruling party, a group of
Georgian NGOs under the auspices of the National Democratic Institute
drafted a memorandum on how such resources may be used. Twelve political
parties fielding candidates in the municipal elections, including the EEM
but not Industry Will Save Georgia and the Alliance for Georgia, signed that
memorandum with the Central Election Commission on May 8.
An inter-factional parliamentary group is monitoring compliance with the
memorandum, and its head told journalists on May 19 that there have been
infrequent isolated violations. The cases he cited were mostly of local
representatives of the EEM threatening to withhold social benefits from
persons who declined to pledge they would vote for EEM candidates.
But statements by the opposition National Council suggest that there is a
clear pattern of intimidation of its candidates, up to one dozen of whom
have pulled out of the race, citing pressure from the authorities in the
Kvareli, Tianeti, Sagaredjo, Lentekhi and Akhalkalaki districts, according
to Caucasus Press on May 5 and 10.
The National Council unites the Conservative and People's parties and former
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli's movement For a Just Georgia. Noghaideli
and Conservative leader Koba Davitashvili have both been subjected to
widespread media vilification for traveling to Moscow to meet with Russian
leaders in a bid to seek ways to defuse the festering tensions between the
two countries.
The Alliance for Georgia too has complained of pressure. The group's leader
in the west Georgian town of Zugdidi told RFE/RL's Georgian Service on May
11 that the pressure on its candidates began in April and steadily
intensified.
Malkhaz Khutsishvili, who heads the alliance's branch in Sighnaghi, told
Caucasus Press on May 12 that the local authorities were extorting money
(10,000 laris, or $5,609) from businessmen to finance the EEM's election
campaign.
Ambassador Peter Semneby, the European Union's special representative for
Georgia, noted the focus on procedure, rather than policy issues in a recent
interview with civil.ge. Semneby said that if the May 30 elections were
conducted "well," demonstrating the development of political and democratic
culture, it will mean that Georgia "has been able to overcome some of the
consequences of the previous difficult situation" and is "moving towards a
more stable institutional framework in terms of political process."
At the same time, Semneby acknowledged that this would be only the beginning
of a broader process that will encompass the adoption of a new constitution
and Electoral Code. Alluding to the frequent amendments to the constitution
since Saakashvili was first elected in January 2004, Semneby said he hoped
the new constitution and election law "will remain in place for some time
without being instrumentalized in the day-to-day political struggle."
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2010 RFE/RL, Inc.
From: A. Papazian