Georgia scored 36.31 of 100 in a Nations in Transit 2021 report published by Freedom House on Wednesday against 38 points in the 2020 report.

Georgia’s democracy score reached 3.18 of 7. Electoral process rating declined from 3.25 to 3.00 to reflect that, despite some compromise over and positive changes to the electoral code, the 2020 parliamentary elections were marred by instances of vote-buying and a boycott of the second round by the opposition, leading to a political impasse at year’s end, the report reads.

“The opposition’s boycott of 2020 parliamentary elections and the February 2021 arrest of opposition leader Nika Melia clearly demonstrated the end of the country’s recent reform attempts. Georgia’s democracy score is now close to where it was a decade ago before the current ruling party rode to power on a wave of public frustration with the increasingly autocratic incumbents. This makes it all the more tragic when opposition groups in hybrid regimes feel compelled to boycott elections due to dramatically tilted playing fields, as recently occurred in Georgia and Serbia. While depriving the winners of legitimacy and drawing attention to serious abuses, boycotts also deprive voters of what little opportunity for change may remain. Elections will not always result in an upset or propel a country out of its hybrid status, but the chances drop to zero when no one makes the attempt,” the report stressed.

Freedom House added that independent media rating dwindled from 3.75 to 3.50 to reflect the contested case of Adjara TV as well as new legislation enabling the National Communications Commission to interfere in broadcasters’ operations.