Brussels, 11/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 July, the chair of the foreign affairs committee at the European Parliament, Elmar Brok, and the EPP Group's coordinator on foreign affairs, Cristian Preda, stated their “strong concern” over “ongoing intimidation” of the democratic opposition in Georgia. “We are particularly worried that [United National Movement] UNM candidates were forced to stand down from running in local elections and that opposition members are prosecuted”, Brok and Preda state in a joint press release. “This ongoing campaign of intimidation of the main opposition party UNM amounts to political retribution and a vendetta”, the two men stated. The second round of local elections in Georgia is planned for 12 July - as are the mayoral elections in 13 local areas, including the capital Tbilisi.
In the view of Brok and Preda, the fact that the UNM campaign manager, Gigi Ugulava (see EUROPE 11115), is currently held in pre-trial detention and that he has been denied bail “raises great concern about the government's determination to adhere to democratic principles”. Ugulava was arrested at Tbilisi airport on 3 July, suspected of money laundering during the municipal election campaign.
On 8 July, the Council of Europe spokesperson on election observation of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Jos Wienen (EPP), called on the political actors to refrain from all degrading or hate speech and from all acts of violence, and he called on both the majority and the opposition to do their utmost to ensure the campaign is conducted in a fair and democratic framework.
“A government that only recently signed an association agreement with the EU is required to accept, as two faces of the same coin, the political forces which constitute the opposition, as much as those which constitute the government. These are the basic principles of a European path”, Brok and Preda stated. Georgia signed its association agreement with the EU on 27 June. The agreement includes a deep and comprehensive free-trade area. (CG)