FREEDOM HOUSE:
FREEDOM IN THE WORLD 2004
GEORGIA
Political Rights: 4
Civil Liberties: 4
Status: Partly Free
GNI per capita: $590
Population: 4,700,000
Life Expectancy: 77
Religious Groups: Georgian Orthodox (65 percent), Muslim (11 percent),
Russian Orthodox (10 percent), Armenian Apostilic (8 percent), other (6
percent)
Ethnic Groups: Georgian (70 percent), Armenian (8 percent),Russian (6
percent), Azeri (6 percent), Ossetian (3 percent),Abkhaz (2 percent), other
(5 percent)
Capital: Tbilisi
Ten Year Ratings Timeline [OMMITTED]
Overview
After a decade as president, Eduard Shevardnadze stepped down in 2003 in the
face of a popular uprising against his rule. Widespread reports of serious
fraud during the November parliamentary election provoked three weeks of
mass, peaceful protests that culminated in the storming of the parliament
building during the legislature’s opening session. The dramatic
confrontation led to the resignation of Shevardnadze the following day, the
cancellation of the proportional component of the parliamentary election,
and the scheduling of new presidential elections for January 4, 2004.
Meanwhile, relations with Russia continued to be marked by tensions, while a
final settlement to the protracted conflicts in the separatist regions of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia remained elusive.
Absorbed by Russia in the early nineteenth century, Georgia gained its
independence in 1918. In 1922, it entered the U.S.S.R. as a component of the
Transcaucasian Federated Soviet Republic, becoming a separate union republic
in 1936. An attempt by the region of South Ossetia in 1990 to declare
independence from Georgia and join Russia’s North Ossetia sparked a war
between rebels and Georgian forces. Although a ceasefire was signed in June
1992, the territory’s final political status remains unresolved.
Following a national referendum in April 1991, Georgia declared its
independence from the Soviet Union, which then collapsed in December.
Nationalist leader and former dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected
president in May. The next year, he was overthrown by opposition forces and
replaced with former Georgian Communist Party head and Soviet foreign
minister Eduard Shevardnadze. Parliamentary elections held in 1992 resulted
in more than 30 parties and blocs gaining seats, although none secured a
clear majority.
In 1993, Georgia experienced the violent secession of the long-simmering
Abkhazia region and armed insurrection by Gamsakhurdia loyalists. Although
Shevardnadze blamed Russia for arming and encouraging Abkhazian separatists,
he legalized the presence of 19,000 Russian troops in Georgia in exchange
for Russian support against Gamsakhurdia, who was defeated and reportedly
committed suicide. In early 1994, Georgia and Abkhazia signed an agreement
in Moscow that called for a ceasefire, the stationing of Commonwealth of
Independent States troops under Russian command along the Abkhazian border,
and the return of refugees under UN supervision. In parliamentary elections
in November and December 1995, the Shevardnadze-founded Citizens’ Union of
Georgia (CUG) captured the most seats, while Shevardnadze was elected with
77 percent of the vote in a concurrent presidential poll.
The ruling CUG repeated its victory four years later, in the October 1999
parliamentary election. Election observers from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) concluded that despite some
irregularities, the vote was generally fair. In the April 2000 presidential
poll, Shevardnadze easily won a second five-year term with a reported 81
percent of the vote. While Shevardnadze’s win was widely anticipated, the
large margin of his victory led to accusations of electoral fraud. Election
monitors noted numerous and serious irregularities, including the stuffing
of ballot boxes, inflated voter turnout figures, and a strong
pro-Shevardnadze bias in the state media.
Following the parliamentary elections, various competing factions developed
within the CUG, which had dominated Georgian politics for much of the 1990s.
Shevardnadze himself faced growing opposition from prominent members,
including then speaker of parliament Zurab Zhvania and then Justice Minister
Mikhail Saakashvili, who criticized the president’s failure to contain
widespread corruption throughout the country. While Shevardnadze resigned as
CUG chairman in September 2001, Saakashvili left the CUG to form his own
party, the National Movement, and a formal party split was ratified in May
2002. Local elections held in June saw the CUG lose its long-standing
dominance to several rival parties, including the New Rights Party, which
was formed by many prominent businessmen, the National Movement, and the
Labor Party. Subsequently, Saakashvili was named to the influential post of
chairman of the Tbilisi City Council.
With Shevardnadze legally required to step down after his second consecutive
full term in office, the November 2, 2003 parliamentary election was watched
closely as a prelude to the 2005 presidential vote that would determine his
successor. According to official Central Election Commission (CEC) results,
the For New Georgia pro-presidential coalition–led by Shevardnadze and
composed of the CUG, Socialist Party, National Democratic Party (NDP), and
Great Silk Road movement–received 21 percent of the vote. The Union of
Democratic Revival (UGR), a party led by Aslan Abashidze, the leader of the
republic of Ajaria, won almost 19 percent of the vote. Saakashvili’s
National Movement came in a close third with 18 percent, followed by the
Labor Party with 12 percent. The only other two parties to pass the 7
percent threshold to enter parliament were the opposition
Burjanadze-Democrats alliance formed by Zhvania and Speaker of Parliament
Nino Burjanadaze, which captured almost 9 percent of the vote, and the New
Rights, which secured 7 percent.
A domestic monitoring organization, the International Society for Fair
Elections and Democracy (ISFED), conducted a parallel vote tabulation,
concluding that the National Movement had won the election with nearly 27
percent of the vote, with For New Georgia placing second with about 19
percent. Monitors from the OSCE reported that the elections fell short of a
number of international standards for democratic elections. Among the
violations noted were ballot-box stuffing, inaccurate voter lists, biased
media coverage, harassment of some domestic election monitors, and pressure
on public employees to support pro-government candidates.
Over the next three weeks, major opposition party leaders, including
Saakashvili, Zhvania, and Burjanadze, launched a series of mass public
protests against widespread reports of serious electoral fraud. The
demonstrations, which received extensive coverage by the popular independent
television station Rustavi-2, were a culmination of years of deep discontent
over widespread poverty, separatist conflicts, and corruption during
Shevardnadze’s long tenure in office. A November 9 meeting between
Shevardnadze and the opposition failed to resolve the situation. The
political crisis climaxed on November 22, when a large group of protestors
led by Saakashvili burst into the parliament chamber where Shevardnadze was
addressing the legislature’s opening session. Saakashvili declared “the
velvet revolution has taken place in Georgia,” while he and his followers
distributed flowers throughout the chamber. A startled Shevardnadze, who was
quickly led out of the building by bodyguards, called the revolt a coup
d’etat and declared a state of emergency. However, the country’s military
and police refused to back Shevardnadze against the demonstrators, and no
serious incidents of violence were reported.
Russia’s foreign minister was dispatched to Georgia to mediate between
Shevardnadze and the opposition, while U.S. government officials worked
behind the scenes to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. Georgia’s
stability was regarded as crucial for both Moscow and Washington, which have
key–and often competing–strategic and economic interests in the region.
After receiving assurances for his personal safety, Shevardnadze announced
his resignation the following day, and Burjanadze was named interim
president. The Supreme Court cancelled the results of the election under the
proportional, party-list system (but not the results the single-mandate
races). Snap presidential elections were scheduled for January 4, 2004, with
Saakashvili widely considered to be the favorite for president. As of
November 30, the date of new parliamentary elections had not yet been
approved. Observers view the upcoming polls as an important test of whether
the authorities will be willing to hold democratic elections and can restore
public confidence in the country’s election process.
Georgia’s relations with Russia, which had become especially tense during
2002 over charges that Georgia was harboring Chechen rebels in its lawless
Pankisi Gorge region bordering Russia, continued to be strained in 2003. In
March, parliament ratified a bilateral security pact with the United States,
drawing angry reactions from the Russian parliament already concerned by a
U.S. antiterrorist training program for the Georgian military initiated the
previous year. Tbilisi and Moscow continued to disagree over a timetable for
the withdrawal of Russian troops from two military bases in Georgia, with
Russia insisting that it needs about a decade to do so. In May, the appeals
chamber of Georgia’s Supreme Court ruled against extraditing three Chechens
to Russia, a decision that further irritated the Kremlin. At the same time,
Russia made inroads into Georgia’s energy sector when Georgia signed a
25-year deal with the Russian energy company Gazprom in July, and Russia’s
Unified Energy Systems (UES) purchased a majority of Tbilisi’s electricity
distribution network, Telasi, in August from the U.S. energy firm AES.
Long-standing demands of greater local autonomy continued unresolved
throughout the year. A final agreement to the protracted conflict in
Abkhazia remains elusive, as leaders in Tbilisi and Sukhumi, the capital of
Abkhazia, continued to disagree on key issues, including the territory’s
final political status. While the Georgian government has stated its
willingness to grant the territory broad autonomy, Abkhazia’s leadership
continues to insist on full independence. South Ossetia has maintained de
facto independence from Tbilisi since 1992. In the southwestern region of
Ajaria, Aslan Abashidze exercises almost complete control over the
territory, which has retained considerable autonomy since 1991.
Political Rights and Civil Liberties
The November 2003 parliamentary elections fell short of international
standards for democratic elections. No voting took place in the separatist
territory of Abkhazia and parts of South Ossetia, which remained largely
outside central government control. Subsequent opposition-led mass public
protests resulted in the cancellation of the results of the poll under the
proportional, party-list system (but not the results the singlemandate
races), the resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze, and the scheduling
of fresh presidential elections for January 4, 2004. As of November 30, the
date of new legislative elections had not been decided. Most political
parties tend to be more centered around specific individuals than detailed
policy platforms.
Although the government initiated a high-profile anticorruption campaign in
2000, corruption remains endemic throughout all levels of Georgian society.
The prevalence of corruption undermined the credibility of Shevardnadze’s
government and is an obstacle to foreign investment. In its 2003 Corruption
Perceptions Index, Transparency International ranked Georgia 124 out of 133
countries surveyed.
While the country’s independent press often publishes discerning and
critical political analyses, economic difficulties limit the circulation of
most newspapers, particularly outside the capital. Independent newspapers
and television stations face some harassment by the authorities, and
journalists in government-controlled media frequently practice
self-censorship. In March, several men forced the independent Dzveli Kalaki
radio station off the air when they knocked its rooftop antenna to the
ground. The station is known for its willingness to report on politically
sensitive issues, including corruption. In July, a former police officer was
sentenced to 13 years in prison for the 2001 murder of journalist Georgy
Sanaya. Many of Sanaya’s family members and former colleagues maintain that
his killing was politically motivated and that those who masterminded his
murder remain unpunished. The independent television station Rustavi-2,
which for years faced harassment and politically motivated tax audits for
investigative reporting on issues including government corruption, broadcast
reports of voter fraud in the November 2003 election and the subsequent
protests that led to Shevardnadze’s resignation. Libel laws inhibit
investigative journalism; the Rustavi-2 investigative program “60 Minutes”
lost two separate politically motivated libel cases in 2003. In June,
parliament ratified an amendment to the criminal code imposing longer jail
sentences for slandering government officials. Although the government does
not limit Internet access, widespread poverty limits its availability to
much of the population.
Although the government does not restrict academic freedom, the quality of
the country’s educational system has been compromised by endemic corruption.
Students frequently pay bribes to receive high marks or pass entrance
examinations.
Freedom of religion is respected for the country’s largely Georgian Orthodox
population and some minority religious groups traditional to the country,
including Muslims and Jews. However, members of nontraditional religious
minority groups, including Baptists, Pentecostals, and Jehovah’s Witnesses,
face harassment and intimidation by law enforcement officials and certain
Georgian Orthodox Church extremists. Over the years, police have failed to
respond to repeated attacks by followers of defrocked Georgian Orthodox
priest Father Basili Mkalavishvili against Jehovah’s Witnesses and members
of other faiths. The attacks have included burning religious material,
breaking up religious gatherings, and beating parishioners. The Georgian
Orthodox Church and the government signed an agreement in October 2002
giving the Church a more privileged status than other religions, although it
stopped short of naming the Church as the official church of Georgia.
The authorities generally respect freedom of association and assembly. A
series of opposition-led demonstrations in November against election fraud
proceeded without incident. However, on November 19, a peaceful opposition
demonstration was violently attacked by pro-government supporters in the
southern Bolnisi district while police did not intervene. Other instances of
violence occurred during earlier opposition demonstrations in September in
Bolnisi and in October in the republic of Ajaria. Nongovernmental
organizations, including human rights groups, are able to register and
operate without arbitrary restrictions.
The constitution and Law on Trade Unions allow workers to organize and
prohibit anti-union discrimination. The Amalgamated Trade Unions of Georgia
(ATUG), the successor to the union that existed during the Soviet period, is
the principal trade union confederation. It is not affiliated with and
receives no funding from the government. The ATUG has reported cases of
workers being warned by management not to organize unions, and some workers
have been threatened for engaging in union activities. Collective bargaining
practices, though legally permitted, are not widespread.
The judiciary is not fully independent, with courts influenced by pressure
from the executive branch. The payment of bribes to judges, whose salaries
remain inadequate, is reportedly common. In 2003, Shevardnadze openly
pressured the judiciary, including in August when he called on the
Constitutional Court to consult with the government before making important
decisions. Police reportedly beat prisoners and detainees to extract
confessions and fabricate or plant evidence on suspects. Kidnapping for
ransom occurs frequently throughout the country, with senior law enforcement
officials allegedly involved. In June, three UN hostages were freed after
having spent five days in captivity in the Kodori Gorge area located between
Abkhazia and Georgia proper. Prison inmates suffer from overcrowding and
inadequate sanitation, food, and medical care.
The government generally respects the rights of ethnic minorities in
nonconflict areas of the country. Freedom of residence and the freedom to
travel to and from the country is generally respected. However, Georgia
continues to face serious refugee problems stemming from the long-standing
conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as from the war in the
neighboring Russian republic of Chechnya, with repatriation efforts
proceeding slowly.
The country’s economy continued to suffer from problems including high rates
of unemployment, sporadic payment of government pensions, energy shortages,
and widespread corruption.
Sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace are problems that are
rarely investigated. Social taboos limit the reporting and punishment of
rape and spousal abuse, and the trafficking of women abroad for prostitution
remains a problem. In June, parliament approved amendments to the criminal
code making human trafficking a criminal offense punishable by 5 to 10 years
in prison, or up to 12 years for a repeat conviction.
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