Georgia

President of Georgia

02 Dec 2024 0 3

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 week ago

“Every day there are more people on the streets. And more importantly, there is real dissent growing in the country. In the state institutions, where people are resigning, or protesting, or signing petitions. We are confronting something very new and we are part of something very new that is happening also geopolitically, I would say, where Russia not winning easily over Ukraine over these past two and a half years is now trying to win over the European Union with electoral war. I would say it's an electoral war. They have carried this electoral war in Georgia and we are fighting against it with constitutional means. They're fighting the same electoral war in Romania. And they fought it in Moldova…So it's a strategy of Russia.”

President of Georgia

01 Dec 2024 4 2

Irakli Kobakhidze

Inserted 1 week ago

“Any violation of the law will be met with the full rigor of the law. Neither will those politicians who hide in their offices and sacrifice members of their violent groups to severe punishment escape responsibility. Georgia's European integration had not been halted. The only thing we have rejected is the shameful and offensive blackmail, which was, in fact, a significant obstacle to our country's European integration.”

Prime Minister of Georgia

01 Dec 2024 2 2

Irakli Kobakhidze

Inserted 1 week ago

“I understand her [Zourabichvili's] emotional situation, but of course on December 29 she will have to leave her residence and hand over this building to the legitimately elected president.”

Tass

Prime Minister of Georgia

Read the Background

01 Dec 2024 3 2

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 week ago

“There is no legitimate parliament, and therefore, an illegitimate parliament cannot elect a new president. Thus, no inauguration can take place, and my mandate continues until a legitimately elected parliament is formed.”

President of Georgia

30 Nov 2024 1 3

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 week ago

“I am with these people. The resistance has started and will not end until we have new elections.”

President of Georgia

28 Nov 2024 2 3

Irakli Kobakhidze

Inserted 2 weeks ago

“Georgia is a European country and that it is our responsibility to make Georgia a full-fledged member of the European family, but Georgia-EU relations are bilateral and can only be bilateral. We are a proud and self-respecting nation with a long history. Therefore, it is categorically unacceptable for us to consider integration into the European Union as a favour that the European Union should grant us.”

Prime Minister of Georgia

Read the Background

28 Nov 2024 3 2

Zviad Adzinbaia

Inserted 2 weeks ago

“Allowing Georgia to slip into authoritarian hands would send a dangerous message that democratic values are negotiable. For the US and EU, this is not just about Georgia. At stake is the West's credibility in the wider region. Georgia aligns with Western foreign policy priorities such as countering the expansion of Chinese, Russian, and Iranian influence in the Black Sea region.”

Atlanticcouncil

Doctoral fellow at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy specializing in Russian hybrid warfare, disinformation, and Euro-Atlantic security and politics

26 Nov 2024 4 2

Nika Melia

Inserted 2 weeks ago

“The opposition will do everything to defeat the so-called government, the self-proclaimed government. This is the fight between people fighting for freedom against people who are trying to entrench the deeply authoritarian regime.”

Leader of Coalition for Changes

25 Nov 2024 1 3

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“So much depends now on the reactions of our partners, how definite will be their reaction, how strong their pressure on the authorities, because I think that nobody can afford to lose Georgia to Russia in such a form. If pressure is not tried, then it means that the West will not have tried everything to try to keep Georgia in the Western side and in the European perspective.”

President of Georgia

29 Oct 2024 2 3

Antony Blinken

Inserted 1 month ago

“While international and local observers agreed that election day was generally well-administered, we note reports of irregularities and sporadic violence. International observers have not declared the result to be free and fair.”

U.S. Secretary of State

28 Oct 2024 4 2

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“It is a rare case in the world that the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation - this is a good indicator of the talent of the Georgian people.”

Theguardian

Founder of the Georgian Dream party

27 Oct 2024 1 4

Baiba Braže

Inserted 1 month ago

“What a disgrace. I applaud the Georgian people who came out to vote en masse despite intimidation. Their wish for a European future must be respected by any Georgian government.”

Latvian Foreign Minister

27 Oct 2024 4 3

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“I do not accept this election. It cannot be accepted, accepting it would be accepting Russia into this country, the acceptance of Georgia's subordination to Russia. We became witnesses and victims of a Russia special operation. They stole our right to choice, they carried out a Russian election.”

President of Georgia

27 Oct 2024 1 3

Nino Dolidze

Inserted 1 month ago

“The preelection environment and the facts revealed on election day had a significant impact on the election and its results. Many problematic incidents and violations were observed during the voting process.”

International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy Chief

27 Oct 2024 2 3

Iulian Bulai

Inserted 1 month ago

“During our observation, we noted cases of vote buying and double voting before and during elections, especially in rural areas. The presence of cameras of the ruling party in the polling stations and people in front of polling stations tracking and possibly controlling voters let widespread climate of pressure and party-organized intimidation, and the feeling of 'Big Brother is watching you,' as one of our observers depicted it. I should also mention that while observing inside a polling station in the countryside, one of the PACE [Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe] teams had its car vandalized.”

Romanian lawmaker , head of the delegation sent by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)

27 Oct 2024 7 3

Tina Bokuchava

Inserted 1 month ago

“We do not intend to recognize the outcome of this stolen election.”

Leader of the United National Movement party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili

27 Oct 2024 1 3

Tina Bokuchava

Inserted 1 month ago

“Gainst that backdrop, most people will be taking Bidzina Ivanishvili's claims of a government majority with a large bucket of salt. We believe the Georgian public has voted clearly for a future at the heart of Europe and no amount of posturing will change that.”

Leader of the United National Movement party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili

26 Oct 2024 3 3

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“It is a rare case in the world that the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation - this is a good indicator of the talent of the Georgian people. I assure you, our country will achieve great success in the next four years.”

Founder of the Georgian Dream party

26 Oct 2024 1 4

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“Parties in favor of joining the EU had won, despite attempts to rig elections and without votes from the diaspora. Overseas polling stations are continuing to accept ballots. I think there will be temptation for him [Bidzina Ivanishvili] to cling on power, but the lead of opposition is so significant that he will have to accept defeat.”

President of Georgia

26 Oct 2024 3 4

Irakli Kobakhidze

Inserted 1 month ago

“This is a referendum between war and peace, between immoral propaganda and traditional values. This is a referendum between the country's dark past and a bright future.”

Prime Minister of Georgia

26 Oct 2024 2 3

Bidzina Ivanishvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“We have a very simple choice: either we elect a government that will serve you, the people of Georgia, Georgian society, take care of the country, or we elect an agent of a foreign state that will only follow orders from abroad. Georgia would then be faced with catastrophe and ruins.”

Founder of the Georgian Dream party

26 Oct 2024 4 3

Giorgi Gakharia

Inserted 1 month ago

“He [Bidzina Ivanishvili] is organized, goal-oriented, with a clear work ethic. But he has no idea how a state works, unlike business. He failed to pass the power test and continues on the same track, trying to maintain power at all costs. Ministers, including the prime minister, struggle to make decisions during negotiations with partners because decisions need to be approved by Ivanishvili. The key to understanding Ivanishvili - and thus, depending on how the election goes, the future of the country - is simple. Ivanishvili is not pro-American, not pro-European, not pro-Russian nor pro-China. Unfortunately, he's not pro-Georgian either. He's pro-himself.”

Former member of Georgian Dream who served as prime minister between 2019 and 2021

24 Oct 2024 2 2

Kornely Kakachia

Inserted 1 month ago

“He [Bidzina Ivanishvili] can dismiss a prime minister within an hour and then bring him back with one phone call.”

Head of the Tbilisi-based Georgian Institute of Politics

24 Oct 2024 1 2

Eka Beselia

Inserted 1 month ago

“I declared my unconditional support to him [Bidzina Ivanishvili], convinced he was an idealist. But as became evident, the most important thing for him is power. He saw that if you want to maintain power without embracing democracy, you have to control the courts. He decided to put the control of courts in the hands of the ruling party.”

Opposition politician who co-founded Georgian Dream with Ivanishvili

24 Oct 2024 3 2

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“I want to address Volodymyr Zelenskyy - from here, on your behalf [the audience on the square] and tell him that we know he is fighting for us and that he will be victorious. And we will enter Europe together! Maia [Maia Sandu], I hope that today will be the day of your victory and the day of victory for the European referendum. We will enter Europe together! I want to address our partners - European or American - and tell them that we will be such partners and allies that they have never dreamed of. When we enter Europe, and we will enter Europe! And these days, we do not want to hear any 'if' or 'in that case' from you, as everything is clear: Georgia has won, and its future has triumphed.”

Pravda

President of Georgia

20 Oct 2024 5 3

Mikheil Saakashvili

Inserted 1 month ago

“I do expect provocations in the coming days, including during the elections and the days after it. If they rig the elections and seize power, then Georgia will cease to exist as an independent country. We have rallied around the banner of resistance for 12 years, a new generation is coming up, a generation born in Georgia that was not oriented toward Russia but Europe. They [Western officials, organizations] are demanding my immediate and unconditional release regardless of my health condition, because they know very well that I am being held captive on trumped-up charges. I was on the edge of life and death for several months last year. I still have the effects of poisoning. I have not seen the sun for three years, haven't had a breath of fresh air. I am forbidden from making phone calls for completely bogus reasons. In a gross violation of law, members of parliament are not allowed to visit me. Russia's eventual defeat in this war is inevitable and a foregone conclusion as long as Europe doesn't succumb to defeatism and the U.S. to isolationism. As long as that doesn't happen, Russia stands no chance.”

Imprisoned former Georgian president

18 Oct 2024 (approx) 5 6

Eka Akobia

Inserted 1 month ago

“Outside Europe, Georgia was the only success story in the global democratization efforts of the US. All of it came crumbling down in just a couple of years.”

Eurasianet

Dean of the Caucasus School of Governance and a former foreign ministry official

16 Oct 2024 3 4

Bob Hamilton

Inserted 2 months ago

“Both a pro-Western foreign policy and solid democratic credentials are important. If a country has just one, like [Prime Minister Nikol] Pashinian's Armenia before the break with Russia, it'll get a little of our interest - but only a little. This is why the [2003] Rose Revolution got such attention from D.C., because it promised both. Due to the levels of aid Georgia received from the U.S., we had leverage there we don't have with Turkey and Azerbaijan. So, we are using it, albeit belatedly. Georgia has far less economic or security importance to the U.S., meaning its democratic credentials are a greater part of its value to us.”

Head of Eurasia research for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based think tank

11 Oct 2024 7 4

Kornely Kakachia

Inserted 2 months ago

“Georgia is a small country and it doesn't have oil, gas, or anything like our neighbors. Instead, its value to the United States has traditionally lay in its role as a vanguard for advancing U.S. influence in the post-Soviet world, as a Western foothold in the Caucasus and beyond. As a result of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Georgian Dream saw more opportunity to cooperate with regional states - most of them are authoritarian - and they see less and less convincing arguments why they had to pursue the Western foreign policy.”

Head of the Tbilisi-based Georgian Institute of Politics

11 Oct 2024 7 3

Irakli Kobakhidze

Inserted 6 months ago

“Only the ill-wishers of our country have been defeated. Now the law has already come into force and we all have to act pragmatically, with a cool mind and put aside unnecessary emotions.”

Apnews

Prime Minister of Georgia

03 Jun 2024 0 2

Zurab Japaridze

Inserted 6 months ago

“The purpose of the law is to cleanse this country of the nongovernmental sector, critical media, and opposition parties, and bring us to the reality that exists in Russia.”

Apnews

Georgian politician - Head of the opposition Girchi - More Freedom party

03 Jun 2024 (approx) 4 2

Ghia Nodia

Inserted 6 months ago

“It is leading the country away from democracy in an authoritarian direction.”

Apnews

Tbilisi-based political analyst

03 Jun 2024 2 2

Romana Vlahutin

Inserted 6 months ago

“Anaklia is the crown jewel of the Middle Corridor. If you have China building such a key point, then you are giving them the capacity and opportunity to control a very important route for trade between Europe and Asia.”

Distinguished fellow at the German Marshall Fund and former European Union ambassador-at-large for connectivity

31 May 2024 5 2

Tinatin Khidasheli

Inserted 6 months ago

“The decision to make this announcement [Chinese consortium building a strategic port in Anaklia on Georgia's Black Sea coast] the day after the 'foreign agent' vote doesn't look to be an accident. It's been an open secret that the government has wanted to award this to the Chinese, but this choice of companies is very concerning, and the timing sends something of a message.”

Former Minister of Defence of Georgia

31 May 2024 4 3

Giorgi Revishvili

Inserted 6 months ago

“Despite the Georgian Dream having the majority to override the veto, it was important for the president to make the move. The president rightfully said how it [foreign agent's law] is a Russia law and contradicts all of European standards. There is also a fundamental shift in the political landscape with the younger generation becoming increasingly involved in politics. The youth is the driving force behind these protests.”

Political Analyst

18 May 2024 5 3

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 6 months ago

“Today I set a veto … on the law, which is Russian in its essence and which contradicts our constitution.”

President of Georgia

18 May 2024 3 3

Charles Michel

Inserted 6 months ago

“If they want to join the EU, they have to respect the fundamental principles of the rule of law and the democratic principles.”

President of the European Council

14 May 2024 4 3

Ursula von der Leyen

Inserted 7 months ago

“I am following the situation in Georgia with great concern and condemn the violence on the streets of Tbilisi. The European Union has also clearly expressed its concerns regarding the law on foreign influence. The Georgian people want a European future for their country.”

President of the European Commission

01 May 2024 4 3

Salome Zourabichvili

Inserted 3 years ago

“The vote took place in a calm, fair, safe and competitive environment. It is very important that today one more step toward democracy and stabilization was made.”