Georgia - November 2025

Georgia’s Parliament passed in the first reading on 25 November amendments to the country’s Electoral Code to end out-of-country voting (OCV). An estimated 1.5 million Georgian citizens live outside of the country, compared to 3.7 million in Georgia itself. Over 95,000 Georgians abroad registered and 34,574 voted in the most recent general elections at 60 voting stations in 42 countries. Media reported that long lines prevented many voters from participating. Civil society experts say the government is motivated by its unpopularity among the diaspora. Georgian Dream had received 53.9 per cent of the vote overall but 13.5 per cent abroad. Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili said the move was needed because voters in the United States and European Union were ‘vulnerable to external interference’ and the results showed ‘how open and blatant foreign informational and political pressure on voters can be.’ The bill will now need to be passed in a second reading and signed by the President to become law.

Sources: Civil.ge, Caucasian Knot, Civil.ge

The Georgian Government has announced the Anti-Corruption Bureau will be abolished by 2 March 2026. All its functions are to be transferred to the State Audit Office. While the Bureau was created at the urging of the European Commission as part of conditions for Georgia’s European Union candidacy, it had in recent months been a key part of the crackdown on civil society by subjecting critical civil society organizations and media to punitive audits. Leading Georgian Dream officials have said the Bureau’s existence was ‘dictated from the outside’, meaning the European Union, and centralizing anti-corruption responsibilities under the State Audit Office would be more efficient.

Sources: Civil.ge, OC Media, Reuters