July 21, 2009

Dear Mr. Vice President:

We are writing to you on behalf of the Alliance for Georgia to start a dialogue on how America can continue to support democratic renewal in our country. Georgians are excited because we understand that your visit marks a continuation of American support. This visit is a firm statement that the US and the Civilized World will never accept the new reality created by Russian military aggression. America’s continued support of our sovereignty, territorial integrity and Euro-Atlantic integration has given us hope that Russian aggression will not be rewarded.

Georgians also appreciate the wider support that America has offered to us. One billion dollars of aid, initiated by you in 2008, has helped to maintain our economy. The US help in democracy building and governance has also, in the past, helped to develop our institutions.

More recently, the US government has clearly signaled with its new 20 million of democracy support that Georgia needs a democratic stimulus to match its economic one. The President of Georgia has finally acknowledged the need for wide reaching democratic reforms. Now it is time to ensure that these promises finally become action.

Early elections could be useful if they give the people an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction through democratic means. However, this election will only be meaningful if the government allows it to take place on a level political playing field. This will require meaningful changes to the electoral process, constitutional reforms and meaningful changes to the media. We believe that the United States can help to facilitate this process.

All participants have an interest in ensuring that the electoral system has the confidence of the Georgian people. A more balanced Central Election Commission is clearly to be welcomed. However the split in membership that is currently proposed still favors the ruling party and could again result in the government exerting political influence. It will be the responsibility of the Georgian people, NGOs and the international community to ensure that does not happen

Without a free media then no election can be fair. We are concerned that the current suggested reforms will do nothing to ensure the editorial freedom of the news in general and the public broadcaster in particular.

The suggested structure of the Board of Trustees could also result in biased selection of the new director. Like the CEC, for the public broadcaster to be genuinely free, the new director needs to be selected by consensus. More broadly, changes in the management of the large private television companies suggests that far from freeing the media, the ruling party is tightening its grip. If TV channels with national reach cannot demonstrate their independence  then at the very least we need to ensure that the range of national stations represents a broad spectrum of political views. In simple terms, all major channels should be able to gain a national license if they want one.

Most importantly, the government must refrain from using its resources to assist its own election. Government resources should not be used in any elections and the government should not use its influence to harass opponents or restrict opposition campaigning. The international community can help. They should closely monitor government spending and the use of law enforcement to ensure that the electoral process is not affected.

To establish meaningful oversight over police and security services is very important in light of continued politically motivated repressions.

In order to ensure that these reforms are implemented quickly the US government in particular can use the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Charter to set bench-marks and a timeline for reform. This agreement will not only include electoral reforms but also wider changes to the media and judiciary. This timeline should be agreed by all of the participants in the political process and the US should commit to stand as guarantor of this agreement.

The government has made and broken promises before. In order to restore the trust of the Georgian people, it is essential that these commitments create meaningful changes that will open up the space for genuine political competition and give every citizen confidence that their voice will be heard.

Mr. Vice President we look forward to welcoming you in Tbilisi and to further discussing these ideas.

Irakli Alasania
Alliance for Georgia