Georgia’s Pivotal Parliamentary Elections

On September 19, 12:30 Berlin time, 14:30 Tbilisi time, the Heinrich Boell Foundation Tbilisi Office – South Caucasus Region invites you to join the Zoom webinar 

“Georgia’s Pivotal Parliamentary Elections: A Chance to Return to Democratization and European Integration?” 

Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream party is increasingly following the illiberal authoritarian playbook. In June, the Georgian parliament adopted a Foreign Agent Law that negatively affects rights and freedoms in the country and will significantly weaken independent civil society. Moreover, the Georgian Dream has vowed to adopt severe anti-LGBTQI legislation, justifying it with the Russian narrative of the ‘defense of traditional values.’

The Georgian Dream and its mastermind, oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, have not only changed the country’s domestic course. Despite formally sticking to the promise of EU integration, the ruling party has long turned its back on genuine reforms and regularly spreads anti-Western propaganda and conspiracy theories. In an unprecedented move, the EU froze Georgia’s accession process only months after the country received EU candidate status. 

On October 26, 2024, Georgians are set to vote in parliamentary elections that will be decisive for the country’s future. Opposition parties are gearing up, with most of them having signed President Zourabichvili’s Georgian Charter. The Charter proposes that after the elections, an interim government should take over to implement the EU’s nine steps and lead the country back to the path of democratic politics. Simultaneously, the ruling party has already promised to ban most opposition parties if it gains a constitutional majority. The upcoming elections may thus become a turning point for the country – or push it deeper into crisis.

During the event, we would like to touch upon the following questions:

• Which factors and key developments have driven Georgia’s autocratization and anti-Western course?
• What is the mood in society? To what extent does the Georgian public support the government’s course? Is there a desire for change?
• How are Georgian opposition parties and civil society countering the government’s authoritarian steps, and what are their strategies for mobilizing voters?
• What can we expect for the pre-election period, the elections, and their aftermath?
• Why does Georgia’s future matter for the EU, and how can the country’s Western partners support Georgia’s return to the path of democratization and Euro-Atlantic integration? 

Our speakers are: 

• Deborah Düring, Member of the German Bundestag and Foreign Policy Spokesperson, parliamentary group Alliance 90/The Greens
• Levan Kakhishvili, Postdoctoral Researcher, ETH Zürich
• Levan Tsutskiridze, Founder, political movement Freedom Square
• Natalie Sabanadze, Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House
• Sopho Verdzeuli, Co-Founder, Platform Komentari; civil society campaign Amomrchevlebi (‘voters’)

Moderator: Sonja Schiffers, Director, Heinrich Boell Foundation Tbilisi Office - South Caucasus Region

To join the event, please register here.

Language of the event: English with simultaneous translation into Georgian

The event is organized in cooperation with Heinrich Böll Foundation - Federal Foundation Berlin.