As Georgia prepares to hold parliamentary elections on Saturday, Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare, was filled with buses and minibuses on Wednesday evening, carrying supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream party from all over the world. the country. The rally attracted around 150,000 people, made up largely of regional government employees.
Rally participants interviewed by Voice of America’s Georgian service echoed the ruling party’s arguments, including the assertion that Georgia is being drawn into Russia’s war with Ukraine and the alleged influence of foreign agents on Georgian politics.
“I am here because I want my country to survive,” said one government supporter.
“I came because I want this country to be run by a patriotic party and not by agents of America,” said another attendee.
“America is now pushing an LGBT agenda – it has become a pseudo-liberal state,” said a third rally attendee, Omar, echoing rhetoric frequently heard in Georgian Dream.
Opposition rally
The pro-government rally followed an opposition demonstration on Sunday, when thousands took to the streets of Tbilisi in a “European March” in favor of closer ties with the West.
Participants in the march told VOA they saw it as a way to resist the country’s return to Russian influence.
“For me, Georgia’s European future is important: to be a democratic, tolerant, free and advanced country, with Western friends,” said Tiko Nadirashvili. “It’s the choice of the Georgian people.”
“I’m here to show my friends that we are winning, because the (ruling) Georgian Dream (party) already knows that it is losing,” another participant told VOA.
The Georgian opposition is made up of four key forces. At the forefront is the United National Movement, or UNM, along with its splinter group, the Coalition for Change. Other major players include the Strong Georgia and For Georgia coalition, led by former Georgian Dream Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia.
The opposition’s election campaign focused on the theme of European integration, warning of threats to Georgia’s Western aspirations. Although he has emphasized economic issues, critics say his rhetoric often veers toward populism and lacks substantive policy proposals.
For its part, Georgian Dream’s election campaign portrayed its opponents in Georgia and its critics among Western governments as a “world war party” conspiring to drag Georgia into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict – a conspiracy theory designed to exploit fears of another war.
The Russians remain
Georgia, faced with two conflicts with Russia since the 1990s, still lives with Russian troops occupying 20% of its territory.
“The Georgian Dream relies on the narrative that without them there would be Russian bombs and war, and that they are the only ones keeping the peace,” said Levan Ramishvili, a professor at the Free University of Georgia. Tbilisi. “This perception of a weakened West fuels illiberal forces in countries like Georgia and elsewhere. »
“It is not disinformation that is causing these attitudes, but rather the years-long war in Ukraine with no clear end in sight,” Ramishvili added. “There is no clear vision from the West, either from the Biden administration or the Republicans.
“This lack of clarity is making the perception of a weakened West more widespread, with leaders like (Georgian Dream founder and former Prime Minister Bidzina) Ivanishvili confidently declaring that they will simply endure and that the West will eventually to sell. »
Georgian Dream, which is seeking to retain power for a fourth term, has put up posters across the country juxtaposing images of war-torn Ukrainian cities with peaceful Georgian landscapes, accompanied by the slogans “No to war” and “Choose peace.”
The implication is clear: voting against the Georgian dream is a vote for war.
“The Georgian Dream tries to present these elections as a choice between war and peace, rather than between the West and Russia,” said Shota Utiashvili of the Rondeli Foundation, a Tbilisi think tank. “The entire election campaign is centered on cultivating a culture of fear: fear of war, fear of difference, fear of modernization and fear of the West.”
The ruling party’s tactics also extend to cultural identity. Georgian Dream has enacted legislation targeting “LGBT propaganda”, arguing that it protects Georgia’s traditional values from Western influence. By aligning itself with the powerful Georgian Orthodox Church and conservative pro-Russian groups, the government positions itself as a defender of tradition.
“Georgian Dream essentially replicated Russian homophobic legislation – not only copied its content, but also deployed similar propaganda tactics to influence conservative voters and influence election results,” said Giorgi Tabagari, a gay rights activist .
“None of the issues addressed in the legislation reflect the real priorities of Georgia voters,” he added. “Some of the homophobic narratives used by Georgian Dream throughout the election campaign are rather disconnected from Georgian reality and reflect cultural debates in the West without any local context.
Critics compare Georgian Dream’s tactics to those of the Kremlin.
Earlier this year, Georgian Dream passed a controversial “foreign agents” law, requiring non-governmental organizations and media outlets receiving foreign funding to register as “agents of foreign influence.”
Critics say the law reflects Russian tactics aimed at suppressing dissent and placing civil society under tighter government control. The law’s passage sparked massive protests, which were met with government crackdowns that led to Western condemnation and U.S. sanctions against several Georgian officials.
“There has been a surge in anti-Western and Eurosceptic speeches, which were previously spread by anonymous actors but are now openly promoted by the ruling party,” said Nino Dolidze, who heads the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, or ISFED. , a Georgian NGO.
“At the same time, we are witnessing a broader anti-Western discourse, accompanied by increased Russian interference in the Georgian information space,” she said. “This includes public statements by Russian leaders and coordinated Russian-led disinformation efforts on social media. accounts, trolls and bots.
Voters’ fears
According to Dolidze, the parliamentary election campaign was marred by allegations of voter intimidation, vote buying and misuse of state resources. Georgian Dream proxies have reportedly threatened legal consequences against those who vote for the opposition.
Many Georgians, especially those in rural areas who rely on public sector jobs or welfare, fear losing their livelihoods if they do not support the ruling party.
“They tell us that they are afraid of losing their income. Of course, this creates problems in terms of free voting, because you can imagine how this affects the free will of voters,” Dolidze said.
Speaking to VOA at Wednesday’s pro-government rally in Tbilisi, Archil Talakvadze, a member of the Georgian Dream faction in the country’s parliament, said that given Russia’s occupation of Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the Georgian people “have done everything possible to support Ukraine” and “stand firmly for true peace.”
The Georgian opposition, he said, “lacks confidence” in winning democratic elections, “which leads them to discredit the electoral process and seize any opportunity to destabilize the country.”
“We will not accept any risks that could drag Georgia into another war, where our soldiers and civilians could lose their lives in an unequal fight,” Talakvadze told VOA. “Instead, we will protect our country’s future through peace, security and European integration. »
While the Georgian Dream presents itself as the sole guarantor of peace, the opposition claims that an electoral victory for the Georgian Dream would be a victory for Russia and insists that the ruling party will not win.
“The Georgian Dream will not be able to subvert the voice of the Georgian people at the polls with false constructions about war and peace that are based entirely on Russian propaganda narratives,” Tina Bokuchava, head of the United National Movement party, told VOA .
The opposition, however, remains disconnected from voters. Polls show that 61% of Georgians believe that none of the existing political parties represent them and 72% want new political players.
Yet many observers say Georgians see the election as an opportunity to vote against the ruling party, not for the opposition.
“In reality, (if it loses) Georgian Dream will fight itself; it won’t be the opposition that will bring it down,” said Ramishvili of the Free University of Tbilisi.
“The Georgian Dream will commit political suicide, because in Georgia, anti-Russian sentiment is part of our national identity, along with European and pro-Western opinions. As a result, when Georgian Dream openly launched an anti-Western campaign, they lost the support of voters who want both peace and Europe. »