Georgia Revokes Pro-Russian Party's Registration

| News, Politics, Georgia

The National Agency of Public Registry of Georgia (NAPR) canceled the registration of the pro-Russian, far-right, violent "conservative movement," also known as "Alt-Info." The decision was issued on April 8 and caused an outcry from Georgian nationalist circles.

The anti-corruption bureau requested that the legality of the party's registration be studied, and the public registry made a decision based on this appeal.

During the study of the issue, the registry revealed several interesting circumstances:

According to the minutes of the congress, Giorgi Kardava was elected as the general secretary (leader) of the political union of citizens, who did not sign the submitted statement;

The charter submitted for registration was signed only by the chairman of the congress;

The list of members of the political union of citizens submitted for registration did not contain information about the members' ID card numbers;

In the charter and attached documents submitted for registration, the name of the political association of citizens was indicated inconsistently;

The sketch of the emblem submitted for registration did not correspond to the description defined by the charter of the political association of citizens;

According to the charter submitted for registration, the congress of party members was not defined as the governing body;

The charter submitted for registration did not provide for the use of the party's property.

"Evil can't help us with anything. Today, when the chairman of the CEC was supposed to sign the registration of our party in the elections, we received information from them that the Public Registry canceled the party," said Zura Makharadze, one of the party's leaders, during his radio show announcements.

A few days ago, the "Conservative Movement" applied to the CEC for registration for the 2024 elections and submitted several thousand signatures. One of the party's leaders, Konstantine Morgoshia, told RFE/RL that after the procedural part, they were waiting for the publication of the resolution on registration on the website of the Election Commission. A number of actions were held in Georgia, organized by the leaders of the "Conservative Movement." For example, on July 5, 2021, when the "March of Dignity" was to be held in the capital, thousands of people gathered on the streets at the call of "Alt-Info," which was later followed by beating and abuse of more than 50 journalists.

Georgia's Public Defender, Levan Ioseliani, told journalists that his office will study the decision to cancel the "Conservative Movement" party. "Yesterday, I heard about the cancellation of the party. Regardless of what kind of party it is and what kind of ideology it is registered in the legislation of Georgia, it must have specific grounds for cancellation, which is also written in the law. Therefore, the Office of the Public Defender will study this issue, and we will inform the public of our opinion on how to correct the Public Registry's decision," said Ioseliani.

See Also

"Caucasus Watch" seeks local specialists from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the North Caucasus region. We offer a flexible format of cooperation, competitive remuneration and access to a European readership. Send CV, cover letter and writing sample to redaktion@caucasuswatch.de. Questions: i.dostalik@caucasuswatch.de

Our website uses cookies. By clicking on "I accept cookies", you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of our Cookie Policy. If you want to disable cookies follow the instructions in our Cookie Policy so that cookies from this website cannot be placed on your device.