Join Columbia's Harriman Institute for a talk on Georgia's upcoming parliamentary elections. 

On October 31, 2020, Georgia will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. Since the last parliamentary election four years ago, Georgia has experienced a spate of opposition demonstrations, continued slow annexation by Russia into Georgian territory and, like the rest of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic. The election will test Georgia’s ability to further consolidate its democracy, give opposition forces an opportunity to strengthen and diversify their voices in parliament, challenge the governing Georgian Dream coalition to persuade the Georgian people they deserve to remain in power, and will chart Georgia’s political course for the next four years. This panel of Georgian and American scholars and activists will discuss this election and its meaning from several key perspectives.

This event can be viewed either on Zoom or on YouTube Live; information can be found on the event page.

Speakers:

Michael Hikari Cecire, non-resident scholar Frontier Europe Initiative, Middle East Institute; director, Eurasia Democratic Security Network

Anna Dolidze, Georgian politician, lawyer, scholar, writer and public speaker

Laura Linderman, senior fellow at the Eurasia Center, Atlantic Council

Alex Scrivener, analyst; 2019-2020 Eurasia Democratic Security Network fellow at the Center for Social Sciences, Tbilisi

Lincoln Mitchell (moderator), political analyst, pundit and writer; associate research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University