Demystifying the Georgian Election

Maidan?

If you read the Mainstream Media – and then go to Alt Media, you are probably confused by what is happening in Georgia. 

Is this another Maidan?  Is Georgia going to be a second Ukraine.

There are similarities --but more differences.  

Let’s start with the elections.

While voters were offered a choice between 18 candidate lists and candidates could generally campaign freely, Georgia’s parliamentary elections were marred by entrenched polarization and concerns over recently adopted legislation and its impact on fundamental freedoms and civil society, as well as highly divisive campaign rhetoric and widespread reports of pressure on voters.  OCSE.

The monitoring elections.  As an EU organization, the OCSE /ODIHR has a certain bias which has been criticized for its lack of a consistent methodology or criteria and in countries at odds with the EU which feel they cannot count on its objectivity.

In this case, we need to parse the OCSE report carefully.  It appears to confirm that the recent election offered the voters wide choice and was, for the most part, conducted fairly, with the usual irregularities the always occur in elections, a point   the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze made in an interview with the BBC.

It was, however, indeed –as the OSCE said, a “polarized election” with a lot of divisive rhetoric primarily over the Dream Party’s controversial NGO registration and LGBTQ legislation. 

That said, it was not fought, as some seem to think, over Dream Party opposition to either the EU or NATO or Ukraine, but previous legislation.

The results however confirmed public support for party policy, even taking into account the benefits of incumbency on the one hand, and intense lobbying by the EU on the other. .

The Georgian Dream garnered 53.91%,

• ·    the Coalition for Change – 11.03%,

• ·    the Unity-National Movement party – 10.16%,

• ·    the Strong Georgia coalition – 8.81%,

• ·    the Gakharia For Georgia party – 7.77%.

Still, 13 EU member states demanded an inquiry into  complaints about the election and “remedies” for  of violations –in other words, they rejected the legitimacy of the elections and demanded a re-run – much as the EU and the West have demanded in the case of Venezuela’s recent elections, which were also decisively in favor of a government, with which Washington and the EU disagrees.  

Germany, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine refused to recognize the election results. 

In the US, State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller  accused the Dream Party of  “misuse of public resources, vote buying and voter intimidation”  and talked of “consequences” if     the ”Georgian government’s direction does not change”

“Direction”?  “Change”? How? 

Miller was specific: by “withdrawing and repealing anti-democratic legislation.”

By this he meant the laws that the election was fought over—which had been passed democratically according to the constitution.  This is what ‘polarized” the election. 

On the one hand, there was a law little different from similar laws in all Western countries, requiring NGOs to register as foreign agents if they represent foreign interests. 

There is also LGBTQ legislation, which adopts a conservative approach to LGBTQ issues-- not substantially different to that of the Republican party-- banning sex change for minors and the like.

The “Dream Party” is a conservative, neoliberal, Christian party. 

It has previously been pro-Western and anti-Russian supporting EU and NATO membership-- and also Ukraine! 

Of course, circumstances have changed, with NATO’s defeat in Ukraine, the collapse of European economies, and the rise of EurAsia, especially the spectacular growth of Russia and China and the ongoing growth of BRICS and its many options. 

Thanks to Conor Gallagher

Georgia is strategically located on the Black Sea—the gateway to West Asia, with the Chinese building a port in Anaklia, not to mention highways. While Georgia does not have diplomatic relations with Russia, its trade with Russia has risen many fold over the last decade – much greater than with the EU or US.

So the West does not have a lot of leverage．It simply does not have much to offer.

What leverage it did have was in the form of the NGOs, which for many years filled the gap left after the dissolution of the USSR in governmental services – giving them immense influence in a social context.  

The Dream Party is nationalist -- first and foremost Pro-Georgian and while desirous of international cooperation, it rejects all forms of foreign control. While it acknowledged the usefulness of NGOs, it felt Georgian well-being should not be dependent on foreign agency.  

It argued that registering NGOs was one step in the direction of full independence.

The law was vetoed by the Georgian President, Salome Zourabichvili, a former French diplomat, associated with French intelligence services and a supporter of European NeoCon Ursula van der Leyen.  The veto was then overridden by parliament.

Now, Zourabiichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial, has labelled the election “rigged--by the Russians who have no presence in Georgia -- and is now calling for street protests in the streets in front of parliament. 

That and the reported presence of Ukrainian Azov fighters in Tbilisi has generated some speculation about the possibility of a “color revolution” of some kind.

On the other hand, Viktor Orban of Hungary is in Tbilisi to congratulate Georgia on “not becoming a second Ukraine”! Indicating also that Europe is not united in its opinions .

This Article

SouthFront asked me to write an article about Georgia. Yesterday’s was written in my usual style and they wanted something more “formal”— a more conventional style — as I have done here.

They will publish an edited version of this one.

Sorry, no off-the-wall remarks or dumb jokes. Just information and analysis. (I noticed that almost no one has remarked on Georgia’s Chinese Connection except Conor Gallagher (Naked Capitalism).

I think this article and yesterday’s together offer a more complete picture of what is happening.

Ichi

Ichi has various places to sleep. This is in the closet.

He also sleeps with me (when it gets cold).

I am wondering what to buy him for Hallowe’en?

Chappy due next week! Worm or not!

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