Georgia shows improvement in Freedom House democracy report

Georgia is one of only two countries to register improvements in the level of democracy in Eurasia in 2014, says independent watchdog Freedom House.

In a report released on Tuesday, Washington-based Freedom House assessed 29 countries across Central Europe and Eurasia and said nearly half suffered downgrades in their democracy scores.

"The only countries to register improvements in Eurasia were Georgia, which held direct mayoral elections for the first time in 2014, and Ukraine,” the report said.

Meanwhile Georgia’s overall democracy score was 4.64 and was classified as "Transitional Government” or "Hybrid Regime”. In last year’s report the country’s democracy score was 4.68, which meant Georgia has improved its score by 0.04 in the past 12 months.

Democracy scores and regime ratings were based on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest.

The 2015 ratings reflect the period of January 1 to December 31, 2014.

Meanwhile the report revealed Russia earned its largest rating decline in a decade in 2014 because of suppressing dissension at home and seeking to destabilise Ukraine.

In the Balkans, four of seven countries registered declines, including Montenegro and Serbia for threats to media independence.

In Central and Eastern Europe, the only country to register an overall score improvement was the Czech Republic, where the report said conditions calmed after political scandals and instability in 2013.

Freedom House said conditions remain "dire" in Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, which had the lowest scores of the report.

Of the 29 countries assessed for 2014, 13 were rated as democracies, six as transitional regimes, and 10 as authoritarian regimes.

Click here to see Georgia’s full profile.