TI Report Criticizes Division of Authority in Georgia

Three years after the Rose Revolution, there is ?practically no division of authority or of competences in Georgia? and ?no institution is immune from interference, at least in reality if not legally,? the report Division of Authority in Georgia, issued by Transparency International Georgia, says.

The report, which was prepared in the frames of Georgia?s International Commitments Assessment Programme, supported by the Finnish government, discusses horizontal and vertical dimensions of institutional balance since the Rose Revolution of 2003.

“What Georgia has got is effectively a super-presidential system, which is much likened to the Russian Federation and Central Asian states? Although the creation of the government (cabinet of ministers) altered the existing constitutional framework and drove it away from presidentialism, formally creating the semi-presidential system, in reality the body lacks independence? Effectively, the branches are neither separated, nor equally empowered for checking each other,? the report reads.

According to the report the Parliament lacks powers to balance the executive authorities and ?is at the President?s mercy.?

?Influential during Shevardnadze?s presidency, it [the Parliament] now performs mostly the rubber stamp function for the government of Saakashvili,? the report says.

The authorities have failed to strengthen the system of local self-governance as well, as ?the government seems uninterested in effective self governance,? according to the report.

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