Ruling party MP responds to criticism of US official Olson on electoral, court reforms
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Erika Olson has criticized the Georgian Dream government for ‘pausing’ electoral and judiciary reforms. Photo: panorama.am/en/news.
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Head of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Anri Okhanashvili, says he is eager to listen to a ‘concrete argument’ from the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Erika Olson on why she is unhappy with the Georgian government’s efforts to reform the country’s electoral and judiciary systems.
Olson, who is overseeing policy for Southern Europe and the Caucasus, said yesterday that Washington is worried the Georgian government’s actions have ‘eroded some of the democratic process.’
She said that her recent November trip to Georgia reminded her of a ‘firm partnership’ between the US and Georgia, noting that the country needs to continue working towards a better electoral and court system.
Okhanashvili says that ‘criticism should be based on arguments.’
I would like to hear a concrete international law or a standard which contradicts existing rules in Georgia for the election of supreme court judges or an electoral system. If the arguments are provided, then we will be able to discuss the topic,” Okhanashvili said.
The US Embassy to Georgia has called on the Georgian parliament several times to pause the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court until the country carries out large-scale judicial reform.
The embassy also says that the GD should support an electoral bill which offers a lower election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections in Georgia.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that she respects the experience and professionalism of the head of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Irakli Kobakhidze in the constitutional law, but says that the party ‘should keep its promise’ and support the electoral bill which offers a two percent election threshold in the next two parliamentary elections.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan says that if the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party rejects an electoral bill which would establish a two percent election threshold for the next two parliamentary elections, the move may ‘risk [establishing] the tyranny of the majority.’
United States Deputy Assistant Secretary Erika Olson has arrived in Tbilisi as part of her trip to the South Caucasus. During the meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili earlier today, Olson hailed Georgia for assisting the US in evacuation efforts from Afghanistan.
The appointment of judges to the Supreme Court by the Georgian High Council of Justice (HCJ) must be stopped temporarily until fundamental reforms are implemented in the judiciary and a wide discussion of the issue is held, US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan said earlier today at a conference of the International Society for Fair Elections And Democracy (ISFED) on Digital Election Campaign and Information Manipulations in Georgia.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Erika Olson says that the Georgian Dream government ‘has committed to judicial and electoral reforms’ and that Washington ‘really wants to see it follow through on those commitments.’
The United States Embassy in Tbilisi on Thursday said it was looking into reports of an altercation during celebrations for the country’s Independence Day on the Embassy compound earlier during the day.