Georgia’s democracy score remained unchanged in 2009 over the previous year, which is the lowers since 2005, according to a study by the U.S.-based Freedom House.

Nations in Transit 2010, an annual research, covers 29 former communist European and Eurasian countries, covering events of 2009. Scores in the survey are based on a 1 to 7 scale, with 1 representing the highest level of democratic development and 7 the lowest.

Georgia’s overall democracy score, according to this recent survey, is 4.93, the same as it was for 2008, which is down from 4.79 for 2007 and 4.17 in 1999-2000. In the similar study released by Freedom House in 2005 Georgia’s overall score was 4.96.

An overall democracy score is an average of ratings for separate categories, involving electoral process (no election was held in Georgia in 2009; conduct of May 30, 2010 local elections will be reflected in next year’s survey); civil society, independent media, national and local governance; judiciary and corruption – scores in all these separate categories also remained unchanged.

Christopher Walker, director of studies at Freedom House, writes in an overview of Nations in Transit 2010, that of the 12 non-Baltic former Soviet republics, eight are “consolidated authoritarian regimes”; two – Armenia and Moldova, are “semi-consolidated authoritarian systems” and remaining two – Georgia and Ukraine are “classified as transitional-hybrid systems.”

According to Freedom House the ratings for separate countries reflect the consensus of the organization, its academic advisers, and the authors of country reports (Davit Aprasidze, professor of political sciences at the Tbilisi-based Ilia State University, in case of Georgia report).