Opposition-led protests against rigged parliamentary elections continue in various central parts of Tbilisi. On Sunday evening, protesters gathered at Freedom Square, closing traffic. Later, they marched down from Freedom Square towards Marjanishvili Bridge, holding EU and Georgian flags and chanting the national anthem. The demonstrators closed both the right and left banks for some time. More updates on election-related developments can be found in our 2024 Election Live Blog.
In a Facebook post, the German Embassy in Tbilisi said that “peaceful revolution is possible,” citing the fall of the Berlin Wall exactly 35 years ago, on 9 November 1989. The Embassy stressed that even today, “freedom cannot be taken for granted.” The ruling Georgian Dream party MP Nino Tsilosani responded to a post from the German Embassy, reminding Germany of World War II events and emphasizing that Georgia was on the right side of history even then.
On November 7, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze participated in the Fifth European Political Community (EPC) Summit in Budapest hosted by Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán. It was the PM’s first official visit abroad since the October 26 elections, which most European leaders did not congratulate the ruling Georgian Dream party on, amid allegations of widespread violations.
In an interview with Formula TV, Zurab Japaridze, the leader of the Girchi-More Freedom Party and a prominent figure in the Coalition for Change, which successfully passed the electoral threshold in the elections held on October 26, expressed his belief that several measures should be implemented to prevent the Georgian Dream (GD) party from legitimizing the new parliament. He suggested that these measures should culminate in a mass protest rally aimed at stopping the GD from officially establishing itself and forming the parliament.
On November 7, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) published its judgment in the Bakradze v. Georgia case, finding Georgia guilty of violating the Articles of the Convention and ordering the State to pay EUR 4,500 for non-pecuniary damage. The case concerns Maia Bakradze, a former judge and current president of the non-governmental organization “The Unity of Judges of Georgia,” who brought her appeal to the ECHR after two unsuccessful attempts to secure a position at the Tbilisi Court of Appeal because of her NGO and critical statements about the judicial system in Georgia.
The Tbilisi City Court has found three additional individuals guilty in connection with the homicide case of Sergeant Roin Shavadze, which dates back to 2008. These individuals include the Head of the Investigation Department of the Adjara Main Department of the Constitutional Security Service and two Special Forces officers. They were convicted of the deliberate illegal detention of Roin Shavadze, a veteran of the August 2008 war, as well as the collective murder of a defenseless person and sentenced to various prison terms.
The Data of the Day
In October 2024, Georgia’s foreign exchange reserves decreased by a record USD 627 million according to the latest information released by the National Bank. The four foreign exchange interventions made immediately before the parliamentary elections mark a significant decline in the country’s foreign exchange reserve, which fell from USD 4.71 billion to USD 4.08 billion. This is the largest one-month decline in the history of the NBG.