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PONARS Eurasia
PONARS Eurasia
  • About
    • Contact
    • List of Members
    • Ukraine Experts
    • About Membership
    • Executive Committee
  • Policy Memos
    • List of Policy Memos
    • Submissions
  • Podcast
  • Online Academy
  • Events
    • Past Events
  • Recommended
  • Ukraine Experts
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RECOMMENDED
  • Illiberalism and Public Opinion Junctures in Russia’s War on Ukraine

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  • Policy Briefs | BEAR Network-PONARS Eurasia Conference

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RSS PONARS Eurasia Podcast
  • The Putin-Xi Summit: What's New In Their Joint Communique ? February 23, 2022
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  • Why Is the Kremlin Nervous? [Lipman Series 2021] September 14, 2021
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  • Vaccine Hesitancy in Russia, France, and the United States [Lipman Series 2021] August 31, 2021
    In this week's PONARS Eurasia Podcast episode, Maria Lipman chats with Denis Volkov, Naira Davlashyan, and Peter Slevin about why COVID-19 vaccination rates are still so low across the globe, comparing vaccine hesitant constituencies across Russia, France, and the United States.  
  • Is Russia Becoming More Soviet? [Lipman Series 2021] July 26, 2021
      In a new PONARS Eurasia Podcast episode, Maria Lipman chats with Maxim Trudolyubov about the current tightening of the Russian political sphere, asking whether or not it’s helpful to draw comparisons to the late Soviet period.
  • The Evolution of Russia's Political Regime [Lipman Series 2021] June 21, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Grigory Golosov and Henry Hale about the evolution of Russia's political regime, and what to expect in the lead-up to September's Duma elections.
  • Volodymyr Zelensky: Year Two [Lipman Series 2021] May 24, 2021
    In this week's episode of the PONARS Eurasia Podcast, Maria Lipman chats with Sergiy Kudelia and Georgiy Kasianov about Ukrainian President Zelensky's second year in office, and how he has handled the political turbulence of the past year.
  • Commentary | Комментарии

Again Citizenship Rules Banning Electoral Contenders in Georgia? Really?

  • September 5, 2013

One would think that Georgia’s government would be wary of banning presidential candidates on the basis of ambiguous citizenship laws. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili was unceremoniously stripped of his Georgian citizenship when he announced his entry into politics in 2011. The decision was blatantly political and caused an uproar. Parliament responded by hurriedly (and unusually) introducing new legislation allowing citizens of EU states (which Ivanishvili was) to run for office. His coalition won the election, President Saakashvili gave him back his citizenship, and Ivanishvili is running the show.

[[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_large”,”fid”:”1622″,”attributes”:{“alt”:”Salome Zourabichvili”,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”342″,”id”:”Salome Zourabichvili”,”style”:”width: 125px; height: 125px; float: left; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px;”,”title”:”Salome Zourabichvili”,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”342″}}]]But wait – now Georgia’s former foreign minister, Salome Zourabichvili (a French-Georgian binational), wants to run for president in next month’s election. Georgian legislation forbids dual citizens from serving as president. But it says nothing that forbids dual citizens from running for president. Zourabichvili is aware of this and says that, if elected, she’ll surrender her French citizenship. But the Central Election Commission has refused to accept her candidacy, citing the provision banning dual citizens from serving as president. It’s ruled that way against two other would-be contenders too. Zourabichvili is appealing the decision to the courts.

And so she should. The Georgian election monitoring organization ISFED has already found in favor of Zourabichvili. And while ISFED suggested the law is ambiguous, it really seems clear as day. Zourabichvili and other candidates cannot possibly be banned from running on the basis of their dual citizenship. They just have to surrender that citizenship if they win. 

If the CEC’s decision is upheld, the analogies to the last government’s retreat from democracy will be unavoidable.

 

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