Georgia will vote on Saturday. For the first time, parliamentary elections will be held under a full proportional representation system.
But there are always street demonstrations: EU supporters against EU opponents. The Georgian Dream party has been in power for three legislative periods. It was founded and controlled ever since by billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. According to Carnegie Europe researcher Thomas de Waal, Ivanishvili and his ruling party have now become strongly anti-Western.
Strong tendencies towards Russia policy
Thomas de Waal, Eastern Europe expert at Carnegie Europe said:
“They have taken this extreme anti-Western turn to try to stay in power, to dismantle democracy in Georgia, to reduce checks and balances. This position alienates the West and Georgia’s Western allies and brings the country closer to Russia and also to some other autocrat governments, especially to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.”
Recently, Georgia banned same-sex marriage and adoption for same-sex couples. Media and civil organizations funded from abroad were dismissed as “foreign agents” following the Russian example.
Tinatin Akhvlediani, research associate, Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), sees a shift towards Russia policy.
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“Basically, their activities and the adoption of laws are very pro-Kremlin. They don’t openly say that Georgia is moving closer to Russia. But all their actions, all their legislative activity is basically aimed at this. So that’s their strategy. Russia is getting involved basically through this government in domestic politics so that it doesn’t have to increase its presence.”
Georgia received EU candidate status in December last year. But in June this year, EU leaders criticized Georgia’s anti-democratic measures as jeopardizing the country’s European integration and leading to a standstill in the accession process.
