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Council of Europe Talks Tough with Georgia

Mátyás Eörsi (Hungary) and Evgeni Kirilov  (Bulgaria), co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Georgia at the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe (PACE) paid fact-finding visit to Tbilisi on February 12-15. 

The PACE delegation, which monitors implementation of the commitments undertaken by the Georgian authorities in 1999, while joining the Council of Europe (CoE), gave Georgia time to June to implement its recommendations; otherwise Georgia’s membership in the CoE could be questioned.

The recommendations of the PACE monitoring mission mainly concern reform of the election system and elimination of religious and political violence in the country. Delegation called the Georgian authorities to reform the election code before the upcoming the Parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 2003.

“If there is no progress in enhancement of the election legislation, I think, certain members of the PACE might raise the issue of expelling Georgia from the CoE,” Mátyás Eörsi, member of the delegation, said at February 14 conference in Tbilisi. “Visiting Georgia eight months before the new Parliamentary Elections is the best moment to see the real situation in the country,” he added.

PACE delegation held meetings with the State Minister, Chairperson of the Parliament, officials of the Interior Ministry, members of the Parliamentary factions and committees, Chairman of the Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo), representatives of various religious groups and non-governmental organizations. The delegation members requested all the meetings to be held behind the closed doors.

Main emphasis during the visit was made on inadequacy of the election legislation. The delegation members said the Parliamentary Elections in 1999 and Presidential Elections in 2000, which were monitored by the CoE were very promising, but “the current situation shows that there are serious negative trends in the country”.

The first recommendation concerns adjustment of the election legislation. PACE delegation called the political parties and the authorities to put their disputes aside and try to reach consensus with the election administration, drafting precise list of voters and other issues.

“Activities in this direction must not be delayed, so that the Election Code could be improved on time. In Autumn, when the voter goes to ballot box, he must have confidence that legitimacy of the new Parliament will not be questioned ever,” Mátyás Eörsi said.

The Georgian government has already started to work on improvement of the Election Code. President Shevardnadze formed a special sub-commission, which will draft reform of the election system. NGOs are also represented in the commission together with the representatives of the opposition parties and executive government. 

However some of the opposition leaders are doubtful regarding the authorities’ intention to improve election system.

“These meetings with the representatives of the civil society, opposition held in the State Chancellery (President’s administration) are just a façade. The government’s only aim is to form the election administration, which would act in favor of the authorities,” Davit Gamkrelidze, leader of the opposition New Rights Party told Civil Georgia. 

The second important issue, brought up by the delegation in the recommendations is to eliminate increasing violence among the political parties, as well as towards religious minority groups.

“It is shocking that in Georgia – a country, with its rich traditions of tolerance, political disputes are solved with use of force,” Mátyás Eörsi said.

The issue was raised by the opposition parties during the meeting with the PACE delegation.

“Political situation in the country is extremely grave. Everything leads to social and civic confrontation. If the government continues this way, we might have a civil conflict instead of elections in autumn,” Jemal Gogitidze, leader of the “Revival” faction, told the delegation members.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will hear report on Georgia in September. Before that Georgia has been given another chance to improve the situation. Results of the next visit PACE monitoring delegation in Georgia in June will play decisive role in the report of the delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly.

By Nino Khutsidze, Civil Georgia

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