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DRC evaluates the election programmes of political parties
25.10.2024

The Democracy Research Center (DRC) has studied the programmes of electoral subjects, which, according to various public opinion polls, are likely to cross the 5% electoral threshold and will be part of the next Parliament.

The analysis of the programmes of election subjects is presented according to the order of their election numbers. The programmes are analyzed in the prism of protection of human rights and democratic oversight of the security sector agencies. Except for Georgian Dream, all electoral entities are signatories to the Georgian Charter developed by the President and share the agenda proposed by the Charter. In terms of the protection of human rights, the cancelation of the rights-restricting legislation, which was adopted by the Parliament a few months ago, is particularly important in the Georgian Charter; Among them is the Law on Transparency of Foreign Influence. The Charter also provides the reform agenda for the law enforcement system, however, the work process should clearly outline how the functions and duties will be separated between the security sector and the law enforcement agencies.

The election programme of the Coalition for Changes (No. 4) does not propose any initiatives different from the provisions of the Charter in terms of human rights. The programme is relatively more detailed regarding reforming the security sector. According to the vision of the coalition, the State Security Service should be abolished. The Counter-Intelligence Department and the Counter-Terrorist Center should be separated from the State Security Service and should be formed into one agency and its head should be elected by the majority of the full composition of the Parliament of Georgia after he is nominated by the Prime Minister. According to the plan of the Coalition for Changes, the Head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau will be elected by the Parliament of Georgia with a qualified majority. The coalition intends to introduce a national police institution, which will be separated from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and its head will be elected by the Parliament in a double vote. The programme does not specify who in the security sector will have the authority to conduct covert investigative actions and what the scope of these powers will be; Nothing is said about the steps to be taken in the direction of improving the parliamentary oversight of the security sector either, which is a significant challenge.

2.      No. 5 - Unity - National Movement - Beyond sharing the initiatives of the Georgian Charter, the election programme does not show in detail what exactly this coalition intends to do in the direction of protection of human rights. The party's programme contains several social promises that can be seen as an effort to improve human rights. For example, the programme provides for the monthly assistance for newborns, although the amount of assistance is not specified. It also provides for school meals, although it is not specified by what model this project will be implemented. National Movement promises students the construction of a dormitory and subsidies for the apartment rents, which is a positive initiative in the absence of a housing policy, however, the programme does not elaborate on the scale of the dormitory or approximately how much the State will spend on the dormitory and subsidies for the students' apartment rents. The programme of the National Movement does not show a detailed vision regarding reforming the security sector. As a signatory entity of the Georgian Charter, the coalition probably shares the general notes in the Charter about the need to reform the security sector, although the programme does not allow us to understand the specific and detailed vision of the party on this issue.

3.      No. 9 - Coalition - Strong Georgia - The programme of the coalition contains positive initiatives to improve the rights of ethnic minorities, women's rights, and the rights situation of persons with disabilities. In addition, the coalition programme provides for the restoration of the National Security Council with constitutional status. The coalition aims to improve parliamentary and civil control of the defence and security sector. According to the coalition's plan, a commission will be created in the Parliament of Georgia to develop political instructions for the National Security Council and the Ministry of Defence for the development of conceptual documents of the national level. The programme aims to deprive the State Security Service of its right to combat, detect and prevent corruption. Instead, an independent state body equipped with an investigative function - the National Anti-Corruption Agency - will be created, which will be accountable to the Parliament and its decisions will be made public. The coalition programme does not specify who in the security sector will have the authority to conduct covert investigative actions and what those powers will be. However, the programme states that it is necessary to depoliticize and reorganize the Security Service. The plan of the coalition also implies the abolition of the Trust Group, the creation of the national bureau of independent investigation and the increase of the role of non-governmental organizations in the control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In order to strengthen parliamentary oversight, the coalition plans to allow the postponement of the hearing of the agency's reports in the Parliament only once, for a specified period, and to define the obligation of presenting the reports by the head of agency. The programme also provides for the division of the Parliamentary Defense and Security Committee into two committees - the Committee of Defense and the Committee of Power Structures.

4.      No. 25 - Gakharia for Georgia - According to the party's programme, protection of human rights will be the main principle of the state policy, which will be considered in all spheres of the state activities, and the protection of not only civil, but also socio-economic rights will be a priority. The party's programme includes a detailed plan for the protection of human rights. The programme is an extensive and detailed document from the point of view of socio-economic rights, with important positive initiatives. In terms of security sector reforms, the party's initiative is to separate the Anti-Corruption Department from the State Security Service and to make it part of  the Anti-Corruption Bureau, as well as to deprive the State Security Service of its mandate to investigate corruption crimes. According to the programme, it is necessary to establish a politically neutral professional service protected from career fluctuations in the security sector. However, no legal or practical guarantees of this neutrality are specified in the programme. It is not specified either who in the security sector will have the authority to conduct covert investigative actions and what the scope of these powers will be. The police reform programme focuses on the separation of functions, both within the system and between investigators and prosecutors. The programme also aims to raise the qualifications of investigators, ensure the independence of investigators, and introduce the institution of the law and order officer. According to the party's vision, the Prosecutor General, the Head of the Security Service, the Head of the Special Investigation Service, the Head of the Personal Data Protection Service, the Chairman and members of the Central Election Commission, judges of the Supreme Court, members of the Supreme Council of Justice, the Head of the State Audit Service, the Public Defender and the President of the National Bank will be elected on the basis of negotiations between political parties.

5.      No. 41 - Georgian Dream – The election programme of the party has not been released in a material form. Even the electronic programme is not available on the party's official website. During the public oral presentation of the programme, no attention was paid to human rights. The main pre-election promises and slogans of the authorities, which had been voiced for a long time before the oral presentation of the election programme through various news channels, completely missed the standards of human rights protection. The authorities call opponents criminals without any evidence, and in addition, call them LGBT propagandists and warmongers. Banning opposition parties by law and declaring them unconstitutional is the main theme of the pre-election campaign of Georgian Dream, therefore, promises about human rights and democratic reforms would be unconvincing in this context. However, the ruling party did not even try to make such promises in the pre-election campaign, at least symbolically.