Headlines from Television News:

• Mikheil Saakashvili, presidential candidate representing the Georgian United National Movement party continues holding his pre-election campaign in Georgia’s Adjara Autonomous republic. Saakashvili met with votes in Sports Palace of Batumi, administrative capital Adjara this afternoon. “Enguri Bridge (Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone) will become a symbol of Georgia’s unification the same way as Choloki had this function several years ago,” Saakashvili stated. Before that Saakashvili visited a maternity house in Batumi. Saakashvili paid a visit to some of the newly-born children and passed out 100-GEL vouchers to them. Various businessmen and governmental officials collected the money for the infants and this was not budget money.
• Gia Maisashvili, presidential candidate representing the Initiative Group assessed proceeding of the pre-election period and overall situation in the country during his meeting with journalists this afternoon. Maisashvili expressed his regret that no debates were held through open air of TV stations between various presidential candidates, who are standing in the January 5 presidential elections. The presidential candidate talked about the role of mass media in covering pre-election period related issues. He also claimed that the media was not free in Georgia. Journalists from Armenia, Azerbaijan and North Caucasus became interested in Maisashvili’s presidential program.
• Davit Gamkrelidze, presidential candidate representing the parliamentary oppositional New Right Party met with representatives of the National Democratic Institute this afternoon. Talks with Ken Volack, Head of the National Democratic Institute were held on the pre-election situation in Georgia. Shalva Natelashvili, presidential candidate representing the Georgian Labor Party also hosted Volack at his electoral headquarters this afternoon. Discussions were held on the upcoming snap presidential elections of January 5 in Georgia. The meeting was closed for the mass media.
• The presidential candidate from the Labor Party, Shalva Natelashvili, declared that he would propose the post of the PM to the famous Georgian businessman, Bidzina Ivanishvili, [Bidzina Ivanishvili is a billionaire whom the Georgian people hardly know as he never appears before cameras.] He said he was an absolutely impartial person, belonging to neither political party in Georgia. In addition, Natelashvili reiterated that the current model of presidency would be reformed and a 'famous lawyer, Gia Meparishvili would chair the commission working on constitutional amendments in this regard,' Natelashvili said. Gia Meparishvili was a prosecutor general during the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze.
• The office of the Patriarch has responded to the statement by tycoon, presidential candidate Badri Patarkatsishvili released earlier today. Father Davit Sharashenidze announced today that the Patriarch of All Georgia, Ilia II had a telephone conversation with Patarkatsishvili, who congratulated His Holiness with the 30-th anniversary of the enthronement and they did not touch any other issue during the conversation. Therefore, the office of the patriarch condemns any attempt to involve Georgian Church in political disputes and activities. Father Davit Sharashenidze said the Church was separated from activities of any political team and would continue to do so. 'Every citizen of Georgia is equally dear to Georgian Orthodox Church and it prays for each of them equally,' Father Davit Sharashenidze said. Patarkatsishvili said in his another video address today that he found new power in himself to fight for victory in the presidential race after his recent telephone conversation with Georgian Catholicos Patriarch.
• The Abkhaz Authorities and the CIS Peacekeepers in the Georgian-Abkhaz Conflict Zone refuse the information of the Rustavi 2 TV Company on the operation carried out by the Abkhaz Militia in Gali District. “No raids and no so-called threatening measures have been carried out”, Ruslan Kishmaria, Representative of the de-facto Abkhaz President of Gali District, declared. He noted that Abkhaz law enforcers had left for the place, where a house of one of the residents of Gali District was being burnt down. On the spot the Abkhaz law enforcers clarified that an outhouse was being burnt down. When searching the location, Abkhaz militiamen arrested a person trying to conceal himself and now he is in the Gali District Department of Interior Ministry to investigate his connection to the incident, Kishmaria declared. The Press Office of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces has also refused the mentioned information of Rustavi 2 TV Company. The Georgian TV Company had informed earlier that in the village of Otobaia, Nabakevi and Tagiloni, Abkhaz law enforcers had burnt down seven living houses and arrested eight persons.

Economic News

Georgia poll puts economic revival under scrutiny
January 3, 2008; Reuters

For the waitress working in a busy Tbilisi cafe a few days before Georgia votes in a presidential election, the economic revival under President Mikhail Saakashvili is not all it is made out to be. Between serving plates of khachapuri, a warm cheese-filled flatbread, and bowls of the dumpling-like khinkali, 45-year-old Nani Chikovani paused to explain. "Our family earns more money because our daughter has a job, but we pay more taxes and bills," she said. "We have the same amount of money at the end of each month, not more." The West holds Saakashvili up as a model economic reformer in the South Caucasus -- a transport corridor between east and west -- where Georgia is at the centre of a power struggle between its ally United States and former overlord Russia. Under Saakashvili, ex-Soviet Georgia has privatised former state companies, devised liberal economic rules and attracted large sums in foreign investment. Ordinary people have seen their incomes rise as the economy grows. But support at home for Saakashvili, who swept to power in a peaceful 2003 revolution, has dropped as Georgians complain of elitism, corruption, an unfair legal system and an economic boom that has not delivered the benefits they hoped for. Inflation has eaten into salaries and utility bills have soared as they realign with market prices. Saakashvili is expected to win the Jan. 5 election, largely because the opposition is divided. But commentators say voters will use the election to register disappointment with his rule. Chikovani, the waitress, cleared an empty plate off a table. "We pay all our income taxes, which was unusual five years ago and in addition to that, gas is 50 percent more expensive than a year ago," she explained.

Social Improvements

The Georgian president called the election in November as a compromise move after he shocked Western allies by sending in police with tear gas and rubber bullets to force opposition protesters off the streets. Saakashvili's opponents back his pro-Western policies but accuse him of crushing democracy and plotting against his opponents -- all charges he denies. Promising social improvements and reducing or scrapping utility costs in a country where the average wage hovers around $150 a month has emerged as a key election battle ground. The Labour party, whose candidate Shalva Natelashvili is likely to be one of Saakashvili's strongest challengers on Jan. 5, has pledged free gas, electricity and water. Other opposition candidates have made similar promises. For his part, Saakashvili has staged television chats with teachers and other state employed workers, listening intently, and promised to increase state pensions to $50 a month, up from the current $34 and ahead of the $24 it was before November. He is asking Georgians to show patience. The European-style economy he is promising to build will, he says, take a few more years to become a reality. "When I'm asked 'What did you do in the last four years of your presidency?' my answer is: 'I built roads, a new army. We improved the energy supply'," Saakashvili said on the campaign trail. "Without any of these we can't create new jobs and raise salaries."

FACTBOX: Georgia's booming foreign investment
December 30, 2007; Reuters

Ex-Soviet Georgia, which votes in a presidential election on January 5, has seen a sharp rise in foreign investment under President Mikhail Saakashvili as his government pushed through economic reform and sold state assets. In 2007, according to the government's estimates, Georgia will receive $1.5 billion in foreign direct investments compared with $1.0 billion in 2006. Below are few facts about biggest purchases of Georgian state firms by foreign companies in the past few years:

• Russian mobile operator Vimpelcom has bought 51 percent of Georgian cellular operator Mobitel in 2006 for $12.6 million and started operating in Georgia this year.
• Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan signed an agreement to jointly construct a railway branch line that will connect Georgia to Turkey. The $422 million project is expected to boost cargo transit from Central Asia and China to Europe.
• Georgian-Russian company Energy Invest acquired the Azot plant in the city of Rustavi for $20 million in 2005.
• GeoProMining, a subsidiary of Russia's Industrial Investors, owns a controlling stake in Madneuli ore enrichment plant in Georgia.
• Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. holds a 49-percent stake in the Imedi television station. The rest is owned by Georgian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili.
• HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, plans to open a new banking division in Georgia, following other international lenders that have taken stakes in leading banks in Georgia.
• Bank of Georgia, the country's No.1 bank by assets, is now more than 80 percent owned by institutional investors -- including funds such as Firebird and East Capital.
• Bank of Georgia is the most liquid stock on the Georgian Stock Exchange and was the first Georgian firm to trade in London, where it raised $160 million in an initial public offering and issued $200 million of Eurobonds last year.
• Among other big investors in Georgia's booming banking sector are French Societe Generale, VTB, Russia's second-largest state bank, and TuranAlem, Kazakhstan's No.2 lender.
• Most power stations and distribution firms are now in the hands of private investors such as Russia's Unified Energy System and Czech company Energy Pro. Energy Pro bought electricity distribution company UDC, which supplies energy to consumers in almost all regions of the country, for $132 million.
• Owners of Batumi oil terminal include Kazakh state oil firm KazMunaiGas and France's bank BNP Paribas.
• Hotel operators Radisson, Hyatt, Intercontinental have bought properties in Tbilisi.
• Swiss Multiplex Solutions has bought Georgia's state-owned water supply company, Tbilisi Water Ltd, which includes a hydro power plant, for $85 million.

New state budget emphasizes social spending
December 31, 2007; www.messenger.com.ge

Parliament passed a state budget for 2008 on December 28, putting into ink many of the promises made by Mikheil Saakashvili, the incumbent presidential candidate, to alleviate poverty and joblessness in Georgia. Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze told journalists after the parliament session that next year’s budget will be more socially-oriented; the finance minister added that social spending would account for GEL 1 billion of the 2008 budget, a GEL 400 million increase from 2007. The budget predicts state revenue of GEL 5.1 billion. By the government’s numbers, expenditures will total GEL 4.6 billion. The finance minister informed MPs that money for social spending would be taken out of the defense budget to the tune of GEL 400 million, bringing down the Defense Ministry’s budget to GEL 1.1 billion. The Energy Ministry will also see its funds cut, from GEL 226 million to GEL 61 million. The Healthcare Ministry will get GEL 270 million next year, and the Education Ministry GEL 458 million. “For the first time in Georgia’s history,” Gurgenidze triumphantly added, the government will be expecting a small budget surplus. Annual inflation, the prime minister predicted, should not exceed eight percent next year. “The national bank has implemented successful monetary policies, and as a result annual inflation has decreased from 11.5 percent to 11 percent in December,” Gurgenidze said. The only MP who voted against the 2008 budget was Lado Papava. A former economy minister who recently left the majority faction in parliament, Papava warned that the jump in social spending could push inflation levels dangerously high. “All the social programs put in place from the end of 2007 will aggravate inflation processes,” he told journalists after casting his vote against the budget. Papava also questioned the government’s methodology in planning and presenting the budget, suggesting that expenditures in 2008 will be considerably higher than the government admits. The government submitted a first draft of the 2008 budget to parliament in October, but withdrew it after then-president Mikheil Saakashvili appointed Gurgenidze to the prime minister’s post in November and promised to refocus state spending on social programs.
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/1516_december_31_2007/1516_budget.html

Political News

Georgia prepares for Presidential vote
January 3, 2008; Source: EuroNews; Jane’s Information Group; Reuters

The former Soviet republic of Georgia is preparing to choose a President under the watchful eyes of nearly 500 Western electoral observers. The incumbent, Mikhail Saakashvili, called the vote early, partly as a compromise, after shocking his Western allies in November by forcing opposition supporters off the streets with riot police, tear-gas and rubber-bullets. His so-called "Rose Revolution" in 2003 has brought some economic benefits, and a flood of foreign investment. But he has also been accused of silencing critics, and the independent media. One of his main rivals is a 43-year-old businessman, Levan Gachechiladze. Some analysts say Saakashvili will benefit from the opposition's failure to unite behind a single candidate. Others believe the sitting president is finished, having produced an economic boom which has not delivered the benefits ordinary people hoped for. Whatever the result, the opposition promised massive street demonstrations, if the vote is deemed fraudulent.
http://www.janes.com/news/defence/jdw/jdw071231_1_n.shtml;
Please follow this link to see chronology of events leading to the elections by Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL303499520071230

Portraits of five opposition candidates in Georgia presidential poll
January 3, 2008; AFP

Five opposition candidates are running Saturday against incumbent Mikheil Saakashvili in a snap presidential poll called after violent unrest in the capital of ex-Soviet Georgia:

Levan Gachechiladze

Gachechiladze, 43, is a prominent businessman and member of parliament, a former close ally of Saakashvili who turned against the president. Nine of the 10 opposition parties that organised anti-government protests in November chose Gachechiladze as their joint candidate. He claims to have no political ambitions and has vowed to abolish the presidency if elected, handing executive power to parliament. The founder of one of Georgia's largest wine companies, Gachechiladze is estimated to be worth 10 million dollars (6.8 million euros). He has promised to boost economic growth by supporting small- and medium-sized businesses. Gachechiladze is married and the father of three children.

David Gamkrelidze

Gamkrelidze, 43, is a member of parliament and the leader of the conservative New Rights party. Though pro-Western and pro-business, Gamkrelidze has never been an ally of Saakashvili and his party did not take part in the peaceful Rose Revolution that toppled former president Eduard Shevardnadze. It supported some of the demands made by opposition parties in November's protests, but did not participate. Saying that "all of Georgia's presidents have shown tendencies toward authoritarianism," Gamkrelidze has called for the abolition of the presidency and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy. His party is seen as closely linked with the Georgian Orthodox Church. A doctor by training, Gamkrelidze is married and the father of two children.

Shalva Natelashvili

Natelashvili, 49, is the founder and driving force behind Georgia's populist Labour Party. A lawyer from 1992 to 1999, Natelashvili was among the authors of Georgia's post-Soviet constitution. He formed the opposition Labour Party in 1995, but supported Shevardnadze during the Rose Revolution. His left-wing party has called for greater neutrality in foreign policy and criticised Saakashvili for antagonising Moscow. The Labour Party was among the opposition groups organising November's anti-government protests and on November 8 Natelashvili was accused of working with Moscow to foment unrest. Three days later the charges were dropped and the Labour Party split with other opposition groups to nominate Natelashvili as its presidential candidate. Natelashvili is married and has two children.

Giorgi Maisashvili

Maisashvili, 45, is an economist and former ally of Saakashvili who has little political profile. A graduate of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, he worked from 1997 to 2001 at US energy giant Enron, leaving the company shortly before its scandal-ridden bankruptcy. He returned to Georgia for the Rose Revolution and became a senior economic advisor to Saakashvili. He later split with Saakashvili and in July formed the opposition Party of the Future. He has focused on economic issues in his campaign and has also promised to seek better ties with Moscow. He is married to an American lawyer, Robin Lightner Maisashvili, and the father of three children.

Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia

Sarishvili-Chanturia, 44, was a Soviet era-dissident and deputy prime minister under Shevardnadze in the early 1990s. She met and married Georgian political activist Giorgi Chanturia, who was assassinated in 1995, in a Soviet prison. A long-time opponent of Saakashvili, she called for tough action against anti-government protesters during the Rose Revolution. She is widely seen as pro-Russian and anti-NATO and has close links with Igor Giorgadze, a former state security minister in exile in Russia. She is married and has three children.

‘Do not Trust Exit Polls’ - Nine-Party Opposition Coalition
January 3, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge; EurasiaNet

The nine-party opposition coalition, backing Levan Gachechiladze’s presidential bid, called on voters not to trust exit polls planned for the January 5 early presidential elections. Four television stations – the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), Rustavi 2 TV, Mze TV and Adjara TV - have jointly commissioned exit polls for the January 5 presidential election and plebiscites. The Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Ilia Chavchavadze State University and two think-tanks - the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) have been charged with managing the exit polls. Tina Khidasheli of the Republican Party, part of the nine-party opposition coalition, said at a press conference on January 3, that there were two reasons why the coalition did not trust these planned exit polls. The first reason, she said, was that not a single international organization participated in the process and the second reason cite by Khidasheli was that impartiality of those four organizations, managing exist polls, “is questionable.” “We call on the entire Georgian society not to believe results of these exit polls, which will be announced by the state-controlled televisions,” Khidasheli said referring to those four television stations, which have commissioned exit polls. “And we also call on the authorities not to turn these exit polls into yet another source of tensions.” Separate exit polls are also planned by Common European Cause. The only information available about this group is that it is apparently a Ukraine-based organization. Representatives of the organization are even refusing to name their local partners, or those who have commissioned them. Tina Khidasheli said that she had no information about this group, so had no reason to trust their exit polls as well. “We announce that we are against publishing the results of exit polls in Georgian media sources on January 5. No matter who will conduct them,” she added. In an attempt to allay fears over possible manipulation of exit poll results, representatives of four organizations, managing TV stations-commissioned exist polls, have invited all election stakeholders to monitor the exit poll entire process, including data processing. More on the exit polls at:
http://www.eurasianet.org/geovote08/news/123107.shtml

Opposition Plans Rally on January 6
January 2, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge

A politician from the nine-party opposition coalition said they would hold a rally on January 6 to announce the results of their parallel vote tabulation (PVT). “At the rally we will let supporters know about the results of our parallel vote tabulation,” MP Kakha Kukava, the leader of the Conservative Party, told Civil.Ge on January 2. “The results of parallel vote tabulation will be based on data provided by the opposition coalition’s representatives at the precinct commissions.” Two election watchdog groups - International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) and New Generation-New Initiative (nGnI) - are also planning to conduct separate PVT, which entails counting votes simultaneously with officials from precinct election commissions. In addition to PVT, exit polls are also planned by four television stations – the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), Rustavi 2 TV, Mze TV and Adjara TV. They are to be managed by the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA), Ilia Chavchavadze State University and two think-tanks - the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS). The opposition, however, has already snubbed the planned exit polls, claiming the organizations behind it have close links to the authorities. Separate exit polls are also planned by Common European Cause. The only information available about this group is that it is apparently a Ukraine-based organization. Representatives of the organization are even refusing to name their local partners, or those who have commissioned them. Kukava told Civil.Ge that he had no information about this organization, but added that he and some of his colleagues from the nine-party opposition coalition planned to meet representatives of the group on January 3. “Today we met a group of Ukrainian journalist who arrived in Georgia with this group [Common European Cause], and tomorrow we will meet with representatives of this group,” Kukava said.
http://www.civil.ge/eng_/article.php?id=16731

‘Destabilization Attempts’ Expected – Burjanadze
January 3, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge

Nino Burjanadze, the acting president, said preventing “destabilization of situation” on January 5, the polling day, was the top priority. She, however, said: “It seems that such attempts will take place.”
“I pin hopes on the rationality of our population that they will not yield to any provocations,” Burjanadze said on January 3. When asked to comment about tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili’s decision to run for presidency despite his earlier pledge to withdraw from the race, Burjanadze said: “We have very accurate information about public mood. We know for sure who enjoys with the public support. The Georgian population can analyze correctly which candidate is capable to keep his promises, which candidate has a correct and precise vision how the country should develop and I hope that it will be confirmed by the results of the January 5 elections.”

Patarkatsishvili Remains in Presidential Race
January 3, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge; Black Sea Press; Prime News; Interpressnews

Business tycoon, Badri Patarkatsishvili, retracted his earlier pledge to withdraw from the presidential race and said on January 3 that he would “continue to fight on to be elected president.” “I will not withdraw my candidacy and will continue to fight… to develop Georgia into true democratic country with independent parliament and courts,” Patarkatsishvili said in a written statement released by his press office on January 3. He said that recently he has spoken with on a phone with Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II. Although no election-related issues have been discussed, Patarkatsishvili said, this conversation “has given me the power to declare” about intention to remain in the presidential race. “Every objective poll shows that support for Saakashvili does not exceed 20-25%; that is why I am convinced that any higher result would mean that the election has been stolen.” Patarkatsishvili announced his intention to withdraw from the presidential race on December 27. He, however, has not officially asked the Central Election Commission (CEC) to strike his name off the list of presidential candidates. His election campaign HQ said Patarkatsishvili planned to do that on January 4, just one day before polling day. Patarkatsishvili’s initial announcement about withdrawal from the race came after the Georgian authorities released compromising video and audio tapes implicating Patarkatsishvili and his allies in an alleged coup plot. The audio tapes purport to show Patarkatsishvili offering USD 100 million to a top Interior Ministry official, Irakli Kodua, in exchange for - among other things - “neutralizing” Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili. In his video address to his TV company, Imedi, staff, Patarkatsishvili confirmed offering bribe to the interior ministry official, but has claimed he did that to prevent bloodshed in case of possible protests after the elections. “All the wiretappings made public by the media are nothing more than a provocation organized by the Georgian special services and have been fabricated only to discredit me,” Patarkatsishvili said in his January 3 statement. “Mr. Saakashvili is not fighting for your well-being or your future. He is clinging to power so that he can escape responsibility for his crimes. Together – and only together – we can defeat the criminal regime.” He has also said that remained committed to his earlier pre-election promises about spending GEL 1.5 billion of own money for social assistance and for paying consumers gas and electricity bills for next 18 months. Giorgi Zhvania said he was quitting position of head of Patarkatsishvili’s election campaign HQ, citing the tycoon’s decision to remain in the presidential race. “I supported his decision to withdraw from presidential race. Now this decision has changed and it is absolutely unacceptable for me,” Giorgi Zhvania, brother of late PM Zurab Zhvania, told the Georgian Public Broadcaster on January 3. “In his first statement [made about decision to withdraw from the race] Mr. Patarkatsishvili explained very well that the society had certain doubts [about Patarkatsishvili] and they should elect such a person whose reputation was not questionable. These doubts have not been yet dispelled and nothing has changed.” Tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili’s decision to remain in the presidential race, despite his earlier announcement that he planned to withdraw, is “unserious,” MP Mamuka Katsitadze of the New Rights Party, which backs its leader Davit Gamkrelidze’s presidential bid, said. “I think that it is confusing and irresponsible to change positions so frequently,” MP Katsitadze told Civil.Ge. “This is not serious.” On December 26 Davit Gamkrelidze said Patarkatsishvili had made a mistake in becoming so actively engaged in politics. Shalva Natelashvili, a presidential candidate and leader of the Labor Party, has welcomed tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili’s decision to remain in the presidential race. “Despite the fact that we have nothing in common with Patarkatsishvili, neither ideological nor structural [meaning there is no party cooperation or financial contribution from Patarkatsishvili], we welcome his decision to run. This is a positive fact, because the more rivals Saakashvili has, the more votes he and his undemocratic team will lose,” Natelashvili said on January 3. http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=16734

Foreign Diplomats Call for Free Elections
December 31, 2007; Source: www.civil.ge; The official web-page of the OSCE

The Ambassadorial Working Group on the 2008 presidential election in Georgia has called on all sides “to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections as well as an environment free of intimidation, where Georgian citizens can fully exercise their constitutional right to vote.” The Tbilisi-based Ambassadorial Working Group is co-chaired by the OSCE Mission to Georgia and the United Nations; and comprises representatives of the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the European Union and OSCE Participating States accredited in Georgia. “Reaffirming support for the work of international election observation missions, they also stressed the importance for all political actors to demonstrate full commitment to international electoral standards by duly taking into account the findings and recommendations of those missions,” the group said in a statement released on December 31. The OSCE/ODIHR election observation mission said in its second interim report that the presidential election campaign environment “has been soured” by allegations of the misuse of administrative resources by incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili, unequal campaign conditions, intimidation and vote buying, “The OSCE/ODIHR EOM has received information and first-hand accounts, which indicate that some of these claims are credible,” it said in the report covering the period between December 14 and December 24. Please visit the following link to view the Second Interim Report by OSCE
http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2007/12/29149_en.pdf

GYLA States that Saakashvili Has Made Many Law-Breakings in His Pre-Election Campaign
January 3, 2008; Source: Black Sea Press; Prime News

The Association of Young Lawyers of Georgia non-governmental organization has registered a lot of law-breakings made by presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili. On January 3 at a press conference the GYLA Head Giorgi Chkheidze summarized the results of the monitoring of the pre-election situation in the state. “The Pre-election campaign of Saakashvili really started on November 8 after the announcement of the date for holding the prescheduled elections. And official pre-election campaign started on November 25 after the appointment of the election date”, he noted. “During his pre-election campaign Mikheil Saakashvili has applied the administrative resources, he has handed over material values to electors and given promises and public officials have agitated in his support. He has also met with electors in administrative buildings”, Giorgi Chkheidze noted. Chkheidze focused on the fact that the NGO had requested from the court to abolish the registration of presidential candidate Mikheil Saakashvili for bribery, but the action hadn’t been satisfied. As to the application of the administrative resources during his pre-election campaign, the GYLA stressed that on December 3 a Russian citizenship of Moldavian origin received Georgian citizenship on the instruction of Mikheil Saakashvili. At the moment the NGO is exploring the data of the funds of the presidential candidates for their pre-election campaigns. Namely, the NGO has applied to the Central Election Commission of Georgia to publish the data of the funds before January 5, but the CEC has refused the mentioned proposal. Chkheidze declared that the three parties having put forward their presidential candidates had made their reaction to the mentioned proposal and they had presented preliminary data on their funds. Namely, the data were presented by the United National Movement, the Labor Party of Georgia and the New Rights.

Georgian Youth Activists Take Back Seat for 2008 Presidential Vote
January 2, 2008; EurasiaNet

In 2003, the Georgian youth movement Kmara (Enough) emerged as one of the headline-grabbers of the Rose Revolution. More than four years later, the buzz surrounding Georgian youth activists appears to have faded. Although young activists for both former President Mikheil Saakashvili and the opposition have worked for weeks on the campaign trail, political scientists believe that their impact on Georgia’s January 5 vote will be minimal. As Saakashvili and opposition frontrunner candidate Levan Gachechiladze hit the campaign trail over Georgia’s December 31-January 2 New Year holiday, youth activists sympathetic to their cause followed closely behind. Their aim was clear: to scoop up the undecided voters who, according to some polls, account for nearly a quarter of the potential electorate. The numbers could prove critical. A presidential candidate must win more than 50 percent of the overall vote to be declared the winner in the first round; if not, a second round of voting follows within two weeks of the initial election. For pro-Saakashvili youth activists, meet-and-greets are their specialty. The Youth Office of Saakashvili Supporters claims to have 3,000 registered volunteers in Tbilisi, with offices also in the regional centers of Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city, and Telavi, center of the Kakheti wine region. On the opposition side, a slightly stronger attempt has been made at grabbing public attention with protests or other public displays. On December 20, youth activists connected with the pro-Gachechiladze Equality Institute briefly snarled traffic in downtown Tbilisi with a march from Tbilisi State University to parliament, where they hung anti-Saakashvili posters and white neck scarves, a symbol of the Gachechiladze campaign. Twelve activists were arrested on December 30 for spraying graffiti. Seven were released from custody and five were fined 400 lari (about $252) each for the damage, local media reported. Davit Dalakishvili, an organizer in this youth movement, describes his group as a melting pot of anti-Saakashvili sentiment, rather than as an organized structure tied to a single candidate. He puts the movement’s number at “at least 200,” though says that there is no organized effort to count the number of activists. As with Saakashvili, supporters are urban-based; apart from Tbilisi, they are primarily located in Kutaisi and the western Georgian city of Zugdidi. “We united youth who did not want to join any party,” Dalakishvili said, noting that the movement started before the “November events” – a reference to the November 7 crackdown on anti-government protests and demonstrations that preceded Saakashvili’s call for an early presidential election
http://www.eurasianet.org/geovote08/news/010208.shtml

‘Freedom in Georgia Takes a Step Backward’ – Freedom House
January 3, 2008; Source: www.civil.ge

In 2007, Georgia’s democratic institutions moved sharply in the wrong direction, a U.S.-based watchdog group, Freedom House, said in a report released on January 2. The country remains in the “Partly Free” category in the group’s annual global survey, Freedom in the World. Georgia’s rating in the survey dropped from a 3 for both political rights and civil liberties in 2006, to a 4 for both indicators in 2007. A score of 1 represents the strongest performance, while a score of 7 is the weakest. The report cites “an increasingly fractured political environment” as one of the reasons behind Georgia’s, as it puts it, "regress." “Alternative voices – in the opposition and civil society – have been pushed to the margins” the report said. “Mikheil Saakashvili… has dominated the political landscape and shown an unwillingness to engage political opposition and civil society.” It, however, also pointed out that the opposition “has yet to demonstrate its ability to offer sound policy alternatives.” The report says that “a fragile media landscape” in Georgia is also “proving not to be up to democratic standards.” It also notes “the substantial use of force against protesters” in November and the state of emergency that followed, which included the suspension of political activity, assembly and non-official media communication, all of which contributed to Georgia falling down the league table. Please visit the following link for the Freedom in the World 2008 Report on Georgia by the Freedom House
http://www.freedomhouse.org/uploads/press_release/georgia_FIW_08.pdf

Tbilisi Calls on International Organizations to React to Terror in Tskhinvali Region
January 3, 2008; Source: Black Sea Press

The Georgian side calls on the OSCE and all the international organizations to provide their adequate reaction to the terror and personal humiliation by the Tskhinvali-based secessionist Authorities to keep the control over the region population, the Press Service of the State Minister’s Office in Conflicts Resolution Issues reports. The State Minister’s Office expresses its deep concern at the fact that for the recent days the security structures of the de-facto South Ossetian Authorities have forcibly expelled several tens of citizens residing in the region from their own houses for their relative connections with the Ossetian Nationals cooperating with the Provisional territorial administration of Tskhinvali Region. “The blackmail carried out by the de-facto security structures of Tskhinvali serves the sole goal to make the people cease their cooperation with the Provisional Territorial Administration and make public statements contrary to their private considerations. Through the mentioned means that de-facto Authorities are trying to create an illusion that the support of the Tskhinvali Region population to the Provisional Administration is only of demonstrative character. Similar actions expose the criminal character of the de-facto Regime of Tskhinvali to keep control over the local population via terror, pressure and personal humiliation”, the statement reads.

Breakaway territories watch and wait
January 3, 2008; Source: Financial Times

Russian warnings that a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo could set a precedent for other breakaway territories provokes jitters among US and European Union officials. But in the separatist territory of Abkhazia on the Black Sea, Moscow's words are as welcome as winter sunshine. "We see Kosovo exactly as a precedent, not only for Abkhazia but for many other unrecognised countries," says Maxim Gunjia, the deputy foreign minister, in a telephone interview in Sukhumi, the Abkhazian capital. "We want to achieve international recognition for our independence." Abkhazia, which is legally a province of Georgia - where voters go to the polls on Saturday in snap presidential elections aimed at defusing a growing political crisis - tops the list of disputed territories where the Kremlin could be in a position to use the Kosovo precedent. South Ossetia, a much smaller breakaway territory in Georgia, is another prime candidate. So is the unrecognised republic of Transdniestra, a separatist region in Moldova. A resurgent Russia sees the disputes over all three territories as potential opportunities to reassert influence in the former Soviet Union and to irritate the west, which would hate to see former Soviet republics pulled back into Moscow's orbit. The US and the EU have interests in all three regions: they back Georgia's efforts to re-establish its authority over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and to seek Nato membership, while in Moldova, they are keen for the country to reunite and increase co-operation with the west. After years in limbo, the Kosovo question has climbed the diplomatic agenda amid efforts to find a settlement for the Balkan territory, which has been run by the United Nations since Serbian forces were expelled by Nato troops in 1999. The west broadly backs the majority ethnic Albanian population's independence demands but Russia supports Serbia's insistence that Kosovo remains Serbian territory. The failure last month of last-ditch United Nations-sponsored talks has prompted the US and EU to prepare to impose a settlement outside the UN framework under which western governments would this year recognise a unilateral independence declaration. In supporting Belgrade, Moscow is standing by a traditional ally and defending its own interests. As Oksana Antonenko, a senior fellow at the UK-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, argues Russians saw Nato's 1999 deployment in Kosovo as a threat to Russia. She writes in a recent paper that many Russians see the proposed Kosovo settlement as a western attempt to prove the 1999 campaign was legitimate. "Since Russia opposed the campaign . . . it has no interest in legitimising it now, when relations are tense over missile defence in Europe, Nato enlargement and the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty [a cold war security pact that Moscow suspended this month]." Russia is also concerned about setting a dangerous precedent. As Sergei Lavrov, foreign minister, said this month: "It will create a chain reaction throughout the Balkans and other areas of the world." The region that particularly worries Moscow is the Caucasus, where minority populations inside and outside Russia have sought independence. Moscow is less worried than it was about its own territorial integrity after bloodily reimposing control on Chechnya. But Vladimir Putin, the president, remains concerned. He said this summer: "It is very difficult to explain to the small peoples of the north Caucasus why, in one part of Europe, some people are given this right [to be independent] while here in the Caucasus they have no such right." But this approach has not stopped Moscow from supporting Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with money, military and security experts and the issue of Russian passports. Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's pro-west president, is convinced that Russia is using the separatist conflicts to undermine him. He has made the fate of Abkhazia and South Ossetia a central feature of his election campaign, travelling to the regions in a bid to win over the votes of the more than 200,000 ethnic Georgian refugees from those areas. So far Mr Putin has not suggested recognising Abkhazia or South Ossetia, almost certainly out of concern on the possible impact on Russia's Caucasian minorities. But Russian nationalists are loudly expressing support. Boris Gryzlov, the Duma speaker, has proposed debating parliamentary motions recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia next month.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4e8e3da4-b99f-11dc-bb66-0000779fd2ac.html