Since the elections, the role of the Georgian parliament has increased. There are checks and balances in place, there is strong parliamentary oversight of the executive branch, and there is a strong opposition, said Eka Gigauri, Executive Director of Transparency International (Georgia).

The judiciary is also more independent, said Gigauri, adding that the media environment in Georgia is now less polarised than before. She listed the following issues as critical:

• The restoration of justice: an amnesty law adopted after the elections saw the release of a number of people from prison.
• The arrest of former officials for corruption and abuse of office: around 20 ex-government officials have either been arrested or questioned (without respecting the principle of presumption of innocence).
• There are lots of problems in terms of the public sector and developments in the municipalities.
• Tapes made illegally by the previous government: the current government does not intend to destroy all this material, and cases of blackmail have been reported.
• Property rights.

After the presidential elections in October, the form of the government in Georgia will be a parliamentary republic in which the prime minister is the most powerful person in the government and the president will have less power than is currently the case, said Nino Lomjaria, executive director of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy in Tbilisi.

UK Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson said Georgia is experiencing a difficult period of co-habitation, and explained that the political fight between the two sides is very tough.

Despite this, democratic reform is still taking place, said Watson, expressing hope that if we don’t politicise things and instead focus on objectives and outcomes, we can make progress towards concluding an Association Agreement, a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, and visa facilitation between the EU and Georgia.

Reinhold Brender, Deputy Head of Division, Eastern Partnership (bilateral) at the European External Action Service (EEAS), said the EU welcomed reform progress made by the new government on labour rights, competition and environmental protection, but lamented the “intimidating impact” of the prime minister and president’s “highly partisan” rhetoric.

The EEAS official argued that Georgia needs stability and continuity in government to create the conditions for carrying forward ambitious reform and the EU-Georgia engagement agenda.

The parliamentary election on 1 October last year was a benchmark for the future of democracy in Georgia which will reflect on the whole region, said Viktor Dolidze, Chairman of the Committee on European Integration in the Parliament of Georgia and a member of the Georgian Dream political coalition faction.

Dolidze said things are dynamically changing in Georgia, sometimes in positive ways but also sometimes in negative ways – and insisted that 1 October 2012 had heralded a genuine transformation of Georgia.

People who try and are committed to building democracy should expect to be voted out of office one day. So however unhappy I was with the outcome of the last election and however bitter the campaign, in a systemic way Georgia passed a crucial test and set a key precedent in that the transition between governments was very smooth, said Giorgi Kandelaki, Deputy Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Parliament of Georgia and a member of the United National Movement faction.