Page 8 - GEORptNov18

2.2 Five Years after Taking Power, Georgian Dream’s Promises Remain Unfulfilled
October 1 marked five years since the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition, led by Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, won its landslide victory against the ruling United National Movement in the 2012 parliamentary elections ( Cec.gov.ge , 2012). GD ended UNM’s nine-year rule, representing modern Georgia’s first ever peaceful transfer of power.
GD rode to victory on dramatic promises of bringing more democracy, rule of law, improved relations with Russia, and rapid economic growth. Logically, GD’s pledges resulted in high public expectations of fundamental and swift political and socioeconomic changes in the country. And now, five years on, it is possible to assess whether GD delivered on its promises.
On the democracy front, arguably the biggest achievement of the last half decade has been the fact that, after the peaceful transfer of power, Georgia did not descend into bloodshed and civil war, despite occasional clashes and larger brawls between government supporters and opposition activists. Furthermore, since 2012, the country held presidential (2013), municipal (2014) and parliamentary (2016) elections, all of which were assessed largely as free and fair by the international community (Civil Georgia, October 28, 2013 , June 17, 2014 ; October 9 , 3 1 , 2016)—although, Georgian opposition parties, as usual, cried foul ( Netgazeti.ge , October 12, 2016). The next test for Georgian democracy will be the upcoming municipal elections, scheduled for October 21, 2017 (see EDM, June 28).
Moreover, even though the level of press freedom in Georgia has remained the same this year compared to last, according to Freedom House ( Freedomhouse.org , a ccessed October 5), the country visibly enjoys more media openness now. Political talk shows have proliferated, and people debate more freely in different public forums. It deems mentioning, however, that most of these talk shows are still chaotic, often devolving into verbal insults, threats, and even fist fights on live TV (Maestro TV, June 9, 2016; Channel One TV, September 22). Yet, the biggest deficiency in Georgian democracy, as many Georgians believe, is the fact that Ivanishvili, a former prime minister but now a private citizen, remains the de-facto ruler of the country from behind the scenes, thus undermining any sensible notion of democratic governance and rule of law. Moreover, nepotism, favoritism and inefficiency are rampant at all levels of government, while corruption is making a gradual comeback: Georgia’s corruption score worsened from 52 (in 2012) to 57 (in 2016), according to Transparency International ( Transparency.org , accessed October 5).
GD is also being heavily criticized by opponents of the previously ruling UNM for failing to prosecute former high-ranking officials who were in government during the rule of then-president Mikheil Saakashvili for alleged abuses of power and corruption. Although, the GD-led government did prosecute some of them, it is being reproached for not bringing more Saakashvili-era officials to trial, thus failing to deliver on one of its key electoral promises—restoring justice and the rule of law ( Newposts.ge, October 1, 2016; 1tv.ge , October 4, 2017).
Other political reforms on the domestic front were even less successful, to
8 GEORGIA Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com