Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

The constitutional reform process in Georgia, which started over a year ago, reached its culmination in October this year when it was finally voted in by the Georgian Parliament. The constitution is now awaiting the President’s signature before its official adoption.

The reform process itself aimed at drafting a new and a consensus based constitution for the country, as the existing system of the distribution of power and constitutional checks and balances has been rigorously criticised.

NIMD’s efforts to support the constitutional reform process in Georgia have involved different groups of stakeholders and a variety of activities, including a survey of

public viewpoints on constitutional reform, a series of public debates in the regions of Georgia and interviews with opposition political parties in Georgia on the fundamental issue of Georgian statehood.

This last activity has led to NIMD’s latest publication, Constitutional Reform in Georgia: Insights from political parties. The publication represents analysis of in-depth interviews with thirteen opposition political parties that refused to work with the State Constitutional Commission.

The interviews, commissioned by NIMD and carried out by CRRC Georgia, took place between February and July 2010. The Conservative Party, Our Georgia–Free Democrats (OGFD), The Republican Party, The Labour Party, The Traditionalists, The Freedom Party, Movement for Fair Georgia, The Women’s Party, Movement For United Georgia (MUG), The People’s Party, The National Forum, Industry Will Save Georgia and The New Rights were interviewed during the study.

Apart from the insights into the views of political parties, the publication incorporates NIMD’s brief report on the series of debates held in the regions of Georgia to discuss constitutional reforms in the summer of 2010.

Levan Tsutskiridze, NIMD’s Representative in Georgia introduced the publication to the public, outlining NIMD’s intentions to support the constitutional reform process:

“For the new constitution to enjoy public trust and legitimacy, it needs to be supported by an inclusive and meaningful public debate on constitutional change, involving people from different backgrounds as well as all sides of the political spectrum.

“Over the past months, NIMD has made an effort to inform and reinforce such a debate, by surveying public opinion, organising public debates with civil society representatives and conducting interviews with the leaders of a group of opposition parties,” he said.

Mariam Kobaladze, of CRRC, briefly presented the major findings of the survey. Elections and parliament, encouraging women’s participation, party financing, local self governance and distribution of power, government structure and checks and balances were the major issues highlighted by the study.

Constitutional Reform in Georgia: Insights from political parties gives the reader a clear understanding of where a group of opposition parties stand on the pivotal issues of Georgian statehood and hence, constitutes another example of NIMD’s contribution to an inclusive debate on constitutional reform and Georgia’s democratisation in general.