Tag Archives: election

New presidential candidate chosen in Georgia

JULY 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — As expected, Davit Bakradze will represent the United National Movement party (UNM) in Georgia’s presidential election set for Oct. 27.

Mr Bakradze had to formally win the support of UNM delegates in six regions before officially becoming their candidate.

The 41-year-old Mr Bakradze won a seat in Georgia’s parliament aged 31 in April 2004 in the first parliamentary election after the 2003 Rose Revolution that had ushered Mikheil Saakashvili into power.

He is an experienced operator, taking over from Nino Burjanadze as head of the UNM’s parliamentary group in 2008 when she quit the party. Ms Burjanadze is also standing in the election as an independent. One of her election pledges is to see Mr Saakashvili prosecuted for various crimes that she alleges. Giorgi Margvelashvili, the current education minister, is the presidential candidate for Georgian Dream, a coalition headed by PM Bidzina Ivanishvili.

It’s lining up to be a colourful, and turbulent, time for Georgia. Its politics have always been partisan but since Mr Ivanishvili won a parliamentary election last year the animosity between the sides has become even more acute.

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(News report from Issue No. 145, published on July 29 2013)

Georgia’s UNM loses Tbilisi City Hall

JULY 22 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s not over yet but Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has suffered a sharp fall in authority over the past nine months.

Lauded as the leader of the 2003 Rose Revolution that swept away the remains of the old Soviet power structures in Georgia, he has ceded authority across the country since his political party, United National Movement (UNM) lost a parliamentary election in October 2012.

The victors of the parliamentary election, Georgia’s richest man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and his opposition coalition, have gradually taken increased control of local councils as UNM deputies switched sides.

Police have also detained dozens of UNM deputies and business leaders on corruption charges.

Now, Mr Ivanishvili’s supporters have wrenched Tbilisi City Hall from the UNM. On July 20, Georgian media reported that members of the city council had voted out the Tbilisi city council leader after his support gradually drained away in the preceding weeks.

Coming before a presidential election scheduled for Oct. 27, the loss of Tbilisi City Hall will be another blow to Mr Saakashvili’s authority. For foreign business in Georgia, the next few months will be increasingly turbulent.

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(News report from Issue No. 144, published on July 22 2013)

Azerbaijan’s opposition chooses candidate

JULY 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s opposition coalition announced that well-known screenwriter Rustam Ibragimbekov would be its candidate in October’s presidential election. Mr Ibragimbekov is best known for co-writing the script for the 1994 Russian film “Burnt by the sun” which won an Oscar for best foreign film.

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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)

Georgia chooses election date

JULY 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia will hold its presidential election on Oct. 31. Confusion had reigned, briefly, though over the date. Only three hours after a spokesman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said the election would be held on Oct. 27, the head of the presidential administration announced the date of the vote as Oct. 31.

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(News report from Issue No. 142, published on July 8 2013)

New MPs enter Turkmen parliament

JUNE 10 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has officially lost its one-party parliament after an election for five vacant seats voted in a member of the newly formed Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (PIE), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Analysts, though, have said PIE is a stooge party and is not genuine opposition.

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(News report from Issue No. 139, published on June 17 2013)

Ex Georgian PM to run for president

JUNE 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nino Burjanadze, Georgia’s former parliamentary speaker and once an ally of President Mikheil Saakashvili, said she will run in October’s presidential election. Ms Burjanadze has a high profile and will be a potential threat to candidates put forward by Mr Saakasvhili’s party and by PM Bidzina Ivanishvili.

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(News report from Issue No. 139, published on June 17 2013)

Aliyev runs for president in Azerbaijan

JUNE 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s ruling New Azerbaijan Party nominated President Ilham Aliyev as its candidate in a presidential election set for October. Mr Aliyev took over as president from his father in Oct. 2003 and is expected to win a third term. A constitutional amendment scrapped a two-term limit in 2009.

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(News report from Issue No. 138, published on June 10 2013)

HRW accuses Azerbaijan of framing opposition

MAY 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Azerbaijani authorities of planting drugs on opposition politicians to imprison them. According to the HRW press release, the drug plants are part of crack-down against civil society ahead of a presidential election in October.

(News report from Issue No. 137, published on June 3 2013)

EU worries about Azerbaijan’s internet

MAY 3 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EU is worried about a clamp-down on the internet ahead of an election in Azerbaijan later this year, Stefan Fule, the EU’s commissioner for enlargement, said after meeting Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. Mr Fule also said a deal to improve visa arrangements between the EU and Azerbaijan was nearing.

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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)

Street politics change in Armenia

YEREVAN/Armenia, APRIL 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The result of Armenia’s presidential election on Feb. 18 was disputed, just like it was five years ago. And, just like in 2008, the opposition staged regular demonstrations.

This year, though, the urbane Raffi Hovhannisyan, leader of the Heritage Party, led the demonstrations against President Serzh Sarksyan. In 2008, Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the firebrand former president led demonstrations.

The two men took a very different approach. Instead of whiping up the crowd in increasingly antagonistic speeches, as Ter-Petrosyan did, a tactic that eventually lead to clashes that killed 10 people, Hovhannisyan has taken a calmer approach.

And has impressed people on the streets of Armenia’s capital.

“What the opposition leader does today is a new style for Armenia, maybe it’s a more Western style campaign,” said Laura Gevorgyan, a young activist who has followed most of the protests.

Hovhannisyan has dubbed his approach a Barevolution after the Armenian word for hello — barev. Despite Hovhannisyan’s efforts, Sarksyan took the presidential oath for his second five-year term on April 9. This disappointed some of Hovhannisyan’s supporters. For many, though, avoiding violence meant that progress has been made.

(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)