08.02.2002 - Source:

Official website of the Georgian Parliament: The Executive Power of Georgia ("08/02/2002 - Official website of the Georgian Parliament") [ID 4685]

Document(s): 08/02/2002 - Official website of the Georgian Parliament

13.09.2001 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Council of Europe: The April 2000 presidential elections did not show any improvement ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia [Doc. 9191]") [#10653],  [ID 4686]

"15. Regrettably, the presidential elections of April 2000 did not show any improvement – rather the contrary, according to the ad hoc committee of the Assembly which observed these elections (see Doc. 8742).

16. Amendments to the electoral legislation were adopted only three weeks before the presidential elections, thus creating confusion in terms of interpretation and implementation of the legislation. The ad hoc committee also noted that, in certain instances, amendments paid “only lip service to previous recommendations by international observers, retaining essentially the old flawed framework.”"

Document(s): Open document

13.09.2001 - Source: Council of Europe - Parliamentary Assembly

Council of Europe: Violations on the election day ("Honouring of obligations and commitments by Georgia [Doc. 9191]") [#10653],  [ID 4687]

"19. But what is more worrying is that serious violations took place on election day: the ad hoc committee reported repeated incidents of ballot box stuffing, heavy police presence and other forms of pressure at the polling stations, as well as the lack of opposition members at the different electoral committees or their lack of influence on electoral committee decisions, as a result of which the domestic monitors – International Society for Fair Elections – considered ironically that the electoral process resulted in a “Gamgebelis[2] elected President”. Thus the ad hoc committee stated that although the outcome of the elections could not be contested, the official figures of the turnout could hardly be accepted.

20. As the ad hoc committee on the presidential elections noted, lack of time could be the reason why only about one third of the recommendations made by international observers in the wake of the parliamentary elections were implemented at the presidential elections. It might also have been impossible for the central authorities to check up on local officials responsible for the conduct of the elections."

Document(s): Open document

07.2001 - Source: Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development

CIPDD: The president is head of the executive and is elected by direct popular vote once every five years ("Georgia's Membership in the Council of Europe, Achievements and Failures") [#10549],  [ID 4688]

"In defining the structure of the national government, the Georgian constitution mainly imitates the
American system. The president is head of the executive and is elected by direct popular vote once every five
years, while a unicameral Parliament that cannot be dissolved by the president is elected every four years.
Elections are held by a mixed system, 150 seats go to party lists (with 7 % threshold) and 84 – to single-mandate
constituencies. In 1999 Parliamentary elections, the CUG got 41.75 per cent and a comfortable majority in
parliament. The opposition Revival bloc united around Aslan Abashidze, the leader of the Ajarian autonomous
Republic in the South-West of Georgia, got 26.58 percent. Only one more bloc, Industry Will Save Georgia, got
over the threshold with 7.08 per cent. Later, a splinter group of CUG, mainly consisting of businessmen, created
first a New Faction in Parliament and then a New Right party."

Document(s): cipdd-geo.pdf

07.2001 - Source: Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development

CIPDD: Inefficiency of governance ("Georgia's Membership in the Council of Europe, Achievements and Failures") [#10549],  [ID 4689]

"The new trend during the last year has been the public fight within the president's team of ministers.
Namely, the fight goes on between so-called ‘Zhvania's ministers’, who are considered to be part of his team:
the minister of justice Mikheil Saakashvili, the minister of finance Zurab Noghaideli, the minister of public
revenue and taxation Mikheil Matchavariani, and on the other hand, the minister of internal affairs, Kakha
Targamadze, and the minister of economy, industry and trade, Vano Chkhartishvili. The ministers openly attack
each other in the media, voice accusations in corruption and so on. In order to increase efficiency and team spirit
in the executive, the president proposed constitutional changes that would enable him to create the Cabinet of
Ministers, appoint the prime minister and dissolve parliament under special circumstances. Although some
opposition parties initially approved the idea, later they united in opposition to it and pushed the president to
drop the proposals. The main reason to this seems to be opposition to the person of Zhvania, who is the apparent
candidate for becoming the first prime minister (this position could eventually pave the way for presidency as
well, or so the opposition fears).
As a result, the executive does not seem to be able to implement policy, while the president seems to be
preoccupied by mediating conflicts within his own team. Efficiency of the legislative process has also
considerably declined. While the 1995-99 Parliament has been quite productive in adopting major pieces of
ground-breaking legislation, in a new Parliament a numerically much stronger CUG majority fails to produce
much results due to internal squabbles. The reform process is mainly stalled in both branches of the government."

Document(s): cipdd-geo.pdf