Georgia

This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Georgia. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Georgia. In 1993, Georgia experienced the violent secession of the long-simmering Abkhazia region and armed insurrection by Zviad Gamsakhurdia loyalists. In 2001, Georgia's government faced a deepening political crisis amid mass public protests. While Georgians can formally elect their government democratically, the presidential election in April 2000 was marred by examples of serious electoral fraud, including inflated voter turnout figures and an unrealistically wide margin of victory for Shevardnadze. The government initiated a high-profile campaign in 2000 to eliminate corruption, which remains endemic throughout all levels of Georgian society.