The V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute, a Sweden-based research organization, has again classified Georgia as an “electoral autocracy” in its Democracy Report 2026, saying the country’s period of democratization “lasted until 2016.”
The report, titled “Democracy Report 2026: Unraveling the Democratic Era?” says that “autocratization predominates” in Eastern Europe and notes that the ongoing “third wave of autocratization” now affects the European Union as it involves both EU member states and their close neighbors. In this context, the report lists Georgia among the European Union’s “autocratizing” neighboring countries, alongside Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine.
The report reiterates that Georgia is an “electoral autocracy,” noting that the country’s earlier “period of democratization with improvements in judicial independence, freedom of speech, and civil liberties, lasted until 2016.” It adds that “democracy scores plummeted in 2023-2025, turning Georgia into an electoral autocracy.”
According to the report, the democratic reversal was “gradual” until the 2024 parliamentary electoral process, which it says was “marred with accusations, irregularities, and silencing of the media and the opposition.” It notes that “several observers” described the 2024 vote as “rigged” and “subject to Russian influence.”
“The outcome of the 2024 elections is still disputed,” the report says. “The deep political crisis manifests the split between the ruling party, Georgian Dream, behind Prime-Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, and the opposition supported by President Salome Zourabichvili.”
Georgia is also among 25 countries where “attacks on the Election Management Body (EMB) autonomy are becoming more common,” together with Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Indonesia, and Romania, according to the report.
The report also lists Georgia among countries where “freedom of discussion is weakening significantly” for both men and women and where “harassment of journalists is surging,” alongside Burkina Faso, the Philippines, and Togo.
According to the report, governments in 37 states increasingly regulate “CSOs’ entry and exit.” Georgia is listed among countries such as Mali and Russia that are “employing increasingly more restrictive laws to limit, monitor, or criminalize the activities of human rights defenders and civil society activists.”
The report highlights that civil society is “experiencing severe pressure globally.” Comparing its 2025 edition, it notes that “attacks on civil society organizations have become more common among autocratizers.”
“CSO repression is now second on the top 20 list, substantially worsening in two-thirds of all autocratizing countries, for example, in Belarus, El Salvador, Georgia, Guinea, and Mexico,” the report says. It adds that democracy “has already broken down in 15 of the 28 countries” undergoing autocratization, “like recently in Georgia and Mexico,” describing a “casualty rate of 54%.”
“Rigorous and impartial public administration is worsening in 21 countries, including Armenia, Indonesia, Mauritania, and Slovakia. The extent to which the legislature investigates in practice if governments engage in illicit actions is weakening in 20 countries, among them Georgia, Greece, Haiti, India, and Mali,” the report further argues.
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