Georgia’s next presidential election will take place on 27 October. Holding it in a peaceful and competitive manner will depend on whether candidates will be able to campaign freely and whether the electorate is able to freely express its will throug

Village Shavghele lies along the Khobi-Poti road, by the bank of Rioni River. The settlement distanced from the road by 6 kilometers is flooded during the rainy season, drainage system is out of order, a water pump is destroyed. Second floors of hous

  On 11 September, a pre-election campaign meeting of the United National Movement’s (UNM) candidate – David Bakradze - took place in Zugdidi. Members and supporters of the party attended the meeting. Simultaneously, representativ

On 10 September, the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia discussed the 29 July bill amending the Law on Police of Georgia, proposed by Mr. Gedevan Popkhadze. According to the bill, until 1 February 2014 the polic

According to media reports, the Georgian Government is presently considering several candidates for the position of the chairperson of the National Regulatory Commission for Energy and Water Supply. Protecting independent regulatory commissions from

In the months following the October 2012 parliamentary elections, David Iakobashvili, a Tbilisi-born, Russia-based businessman with a Swedish passport, has acquired several advertising and energy companies that, we believe, were previously controlled

The Georgian government agencies have not been very proactive in releasing relevant public information about their decisions and activities. Whenever a citizen, a journalist or a researcher wanted this information, one had to send a Freedom of Inform

Transparency International Georgia releases a third report on the bonuses issued in the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti municipalities. This time the study covers amounts issued from 1 April to 1 July 2013. The statistics show that despite several appeals fro

On 3 September, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Georgia refused to register Salome Zourabichvili as a candidate for the 2013 presidential elections. Zourabichvili holds both Georgian and French citizenship. The CEC cited Article 29(1¹) of th

Georgia has a new government authority that is tasked with protecting people’s right to privacy. Its powers however may not be sufficient to stop the Ministry of Interior’s unchecked systematic surveillance of electronic communication. We currently