ERR in Georgia: Protesters want fall elections, support European path
Georgians protesting against the 'foreign influence' law are hoping for new elections this fall, and are strongly in favor of their country's European trajectory, reports ERR's Joakim Klementi from Tbilisi.
On Tuesday, the Georgian parliament adopted a law on foreign influence, which restricts civil society and media outlets that are critical of the authorities. However, according to people ERR spoke to in Tbilisi, ruling party Georgian Dream has been undermining democracy in the country step-by-step for a number of years.
"The context is different now. It's not a normal situation in which you can go to the police or to court to defend your rights. There have been no impartial institutions in Georgia for some years now," said Giorgi Chitidze, human rights program manager at the Civil Society Foundation.
Protesters and organizations critical of the Georgian government are now mainly hoping for new elections in the fall. The majority of Georgians are strongly in favor of their country joining the European Union. Therefore, ruling party Georgian Dream's turn away from Europe is likely to decrease their share of votes.
The opposition, however, must be able to form a united front by then.
"I think it's already happening. If you had asked me that question about the opposition a few months ago, I would have said they were a bit weak, fragmented and so on. Now we see that the opposition is starting to work together," said Paata Gaprindashvili, director of think tank GRASS (Georgia's Research Associates).
On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of the Baltic countries and Iceland also visited Tbilisi, where they stressed that Georgia's path to the EU would be halted if the law was adopted.
"All the decisions that have been taken towards Georgia today, be they, for example, official (EU) candidate status or liberalization of the visa rules – they are not guaranteed," said Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200).
At the same time, Tsahkna said the Georgian government has the opportunity to turn towards Europe again, not only through its words but also its deeds.
"Our recommendation was that the best thing to do now would be to use the opportunity provided by the president (Salome Zourabichvili – ed.) to veto the law and take it off the table. Then the other things can be discussed," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Michael Cole
