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GEORGIA-VOTE-PARLIAMENT
Georgian opposition unite to oust billionaire’s ruling party
TBILISI, Oct 29, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Georgians vote on Saturday in tightly
contested parliamentary elections pitting an unlikely union of opposition
parties against the increasingly unpopular ruling party led by the country’s
richest man.
Mountainous Georgia on the Black Sea is seen as a rare example of a
democracy among ex-Soviet countries. But elections in the country of nearly
four million people regularly spark mass protests, with only one orderly
transition of power in a parliamentary vote in 2012.
Two larger-than-life personalities dominate politics in the tiny Caucasus
country, the flamboyant former president Mikheil Saakashvili who is in exile
and billionaire ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.
In an unprecedented show of unity among the fragmented opposition,
Saakashvili’s United National Movement (UNM) and smaller opposition groups
have joined forces to challenge the ruling Georgian Dream party chaired by
Ivanishvili.
The billionaire’s party has been in power since 2012 and his lavish mansion
is nestled on a forested mountain that overlooks the capital Tbilisi.
Critics accuse Ivanishvili — who is widely seen to be calling the shots in
Georgia — of persecuting political opponents and creating a corrupt system
where private interests preside over politics.
“State institutions, law-enforcement bodies, the prosecutor’s office, the
courts — nothing works properly,” Murtaz Beridze, a 67-year-old historian
told AFP.
“Everything is ruled by that person living there on the mountain,” he told
AFP.
– ‘Unlimited’ financial resources –
Nearly all of Georgia’s opposition parties, including Saakashvili’s UNM,
held talks on forming a coalition government if they are elected.
Both the ruling party and the opposition have said they are sure to win,
but analysts believe the outcome is uncertain, with the opposition holding
only a narrow lead.
What’s more, “Georgian Dream is unchecked in its use of unlimited
administrative and financial resources against them,” analyst Gia Nodia told
AFP.
Due to Georgia’s complex election rules the final makeup of the 150-seat
parliament may only become clear by late November.
Georgian Dream has seen its popularity plummet over its handling of the
economy and a perceived backsliding on its commitment to democracy.
“An oligarch who owns some 40 percent of Georgia’s national wealth has
appropriated the country and is ruling it as his fiefdom,” Saakashvili told
AFP in an interview.
Despite the dominance of Georgian Dream and the UNM, electoral laws
introduced this year mean smaller groups have a better chance of securing
seats, with the threshold for representation at just one percent.
Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia of Georgian Dream said the new laws meant
Saturday’s vote was a “milestone” that would result in “a more pluralistic
parliament”.
He was confident in a win for his party that would bring his country closer
to the European Union and NATO.
– ‘Violence and intimidation’ –
Yet Georgia’s bid to join the Western military alliance has angered Moscow
and the confrontation culminated in a brief war over the Kremlin-backed
separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008.
After the war, which saw Georgia’s small military routed in just five
days, Moscow recognised both provinces as independent states and moved in
thousands of troops.
Western capitals have accused the Georgian Dream-led government of mounting
a political witch-hunt and Interpol has recently turned down requests from
Tbilisi to issue a red notice against Saakashvili.
Tina Bokuchava, a UNM leader accused Ivanishvili of “resorting to violence
and intimidation, including orchestrated physical attacks against opposition
candidates and their supporters,” during the campaign.
A charismatic reformer who took over in the peaceful Rose Revolution of
2003, Saakashvili was forced to flee Georgia at the end of his second term in
2013, fearing arrest after prosecutors accused him of abusing power.
He now lives in Ukraine and was appointed by President Volodymyr Zelensky
to head a political and economic reforms taskforce.
“How could an election be seen as free and fair if the main opposition
leader is robbed of a possibility to return to the country and campaign?”
Saakashvili told AFP.
On Sunday, he framed the vote as a clear battle between the opposition
coalition and a corrupt ruling elite.
Railing against a ruling elite he says is corrupt, Saakashvili fled
Georgia at the end of his second term in 2013 after prosecutors accused him
of abusing power.
“Ivanishvili is preparing to rig the elections. We are preparing for a
victory,” he said.
Yet for many Georgians, the clash of these heavyweights is less urgent
than the stagnant economy, rising food and medicine prices and lack of
opportunities for the youth.
“My grandson got his degree, but has no job,” Eteri Demurashvili, an 80-
year-old pensioner, told AFP.
BSS/AFP/RY/09:25hrs