Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said Georgia is in a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism and warned that Georgia's government is "increasingly moving toward autocracy."
Shahin, the head of the subcommittee on cooperation in the field of European and regional security, made a statement at a meeting of the US Senate committee on international relations.
"Georgia is one of the countries where the internal struggle between autocracy and authoritarianism continues. It is clear that the people of Georgia want to move to the West, to Europe, want democracy. Senator Risch and I were there in 2012 to observe the elections when the Georgian Dream came to power in the country. But now we see that the Georgian government is increasingly moving towards autocracy," Shahin said.
The senator raised the issue of sending a long-term observation mission to Tbilisi for the 2024 parliamentary elections, the Georgian service of Radio Liberty reports.
USAID Director Samantha Power said there is no election monitoring program for next year yet, but agreed that recent attacks on civil society in Georgia and attempts to pass some laws are "extremely alarming."
"On the other hand, this retreat shows us the strength of civil society and citizens of Georgia in realizing democratic aspirations. I think we need to deploy election observers and short-term and long-term missions broadly because that's a real opportunity for citizens' voices to be heard,” Power said.
According to the Interpressnews agency, Tbilisi Mayor Kaha Kaladze commented on the senator's words. He says that "there were three people" at the meeting.
"After 2012, our situation changed radically (for the better - ed.) from the point of view of democracy and freedom of speech. Is it necessary to implement reforms? Yes, I agree with you, the reforms must continue. We will make every effort on this most difficult path of European integration, in terms of the reforms that must be implemented," Kaladze said.
Recently, the US State Department has repeatedly expressed concern about the situation in Georgia. In March, several statements were made in connection with the ruling party's attempt to pass a law on "foreign agents", which included media and NGOs.
In early April, the US State Department, for the first time in the history of US-Georgian relations, imposed visa sanctions against several high-ranking Georgian judges for their involvement in large-scale corruption.
The government and the ruling party of Georgia stated that this accusation is unsubstantiated and warned about the inadmissibility of interference from the side in the work of the courts.