Parliamentary Control Related to the Management of the Pandemic

29 Mar, 2022
Read the full version

The study provides the assessment of the parliamentary oversight of the government’s performance in managing the pandemic exercised during the period between 21 March 2020 and 31 December 2021, and its results.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Parliament of Georgia failed to carry out effective control of the government’s performance. The legislature fully delegated its power of restricting fundamental human rights to the government. The Parliament also failed to scrutinize the compliance of the pandemic-related normative acts issued by the government with Georgian legislation. Assessment of the necessity and proportionality of specific restrictive measures introduced by the government was left beyond parliamentary oversight.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the parliamentary oversight of the government during the pandemic, particularly, the use of parliamentary control mechanisms in connection with the pandemic and important pandemic-induced problems. The parliamentary oversight of the government performance is especially important during the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, at a critical time for the country. The reporting period coincided with the electoral processes and political tensions that
ultimately affected the exercise of parliamentary oversight.