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It’s become a familiar scene. Tens of thousands marching the streets of Georgia’s capital, chants climbing in the chill air above fluttering swathes of red-crossed flags. “We are going to Europe,” the chorus rises. “No to Russian slaves!”
Sunday night’s protests come ahead of parliamentary elections on 26 October, when Georgians will cast their votes in what’s being billed as a referendum on their nation’s democratic future.
Since the launch of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and to Moscow’s enduring delight, the ruling Georgian Dream party has systematically scorned historic Western allies to undergo a violent descent into authoritarianism that has in turn scuppered more than 80% of the public’s dreams of joining the EU.
Amid the resulting sanctions and a halt to foreign aid, Georgia’s government is not only now pledging to outlaw the opposition should it win in the coming election but also stands accused of a concerted campaign of electoral abuses to safeguard their prospects ahead of Saturday’s vote.
All the headlines from the past two and a half years, placing Georgia “on the brink” or “at the crossroads,” would appear to have seldom been truer than at this very moment.
Power and Patronage
Georgian Dream has long been accused of weaponising corruption to secure electoral victories. But critics say what makes this vote different is how the polls have pitted popular aspirations for European integration against the interests of the ruling party’s oligarch founder.
Having made his fortune in Moscow during the Soviet collapse, Bidzina Ivanishvili has been in and out of office several times since Georgian Dream first came to power in 2012, most recently as honorary party chair.
Despite modelling himself as a humble philanthropist, he has also, amid the war in Ukraine, faced growing calls to be sanctioned for his longstanding ties to Russia, his vast influence over Georgian public life, and the authoritarian track taken by his government that has lately seen EU-accession talks put on hold.
Sergi Kapanadze, founder of Tbilisi think-tank Georgia Reform Associates, explained to Byline Times how Ivanishvili has over the past decade and a half cemented party fealty not only through repeated purges of the rank and file but also by establishing a patronage network of financial interests among his MPs.
Local NGOs have extensively documented case studies of companies either owned or controlled by officials and their families receiving state tenders and subsidies, with those same companies then making vast donations to the party coffers in what’s been described as a systemic “pay to play” scheme.
“These people rely on Ivanishvili for both their political and financial survival,” Kapanadze said. “It’s also the reason Georgian Dream is able to outspend the opposition at elections. People think Ivanishvili is throwing his own billions at the polls, but they’re using the state’s own money, drawn from public contracts through these ‘party donors’.”
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A Hostile Environment
Many commentators point to Georgian Dream’s uniform adoption of the “global party of war” conspiracy theory as evidence of the party’s loyalty to their founder. Minted by Ivanishvili himself, it portrays Western governments, opposition politicians and civil society as agents of a nefarious cabal hellbent on dragging Georgia into the war in Ukraine.
Representing what critics describe as a concerted anti-Western disinformation campaign, this hasn’t just played out in narratives peddled by senior officials and pro-government media, but has also served as a prerequisite for a slew of authoritarian measures, from punitive restrictions on foreign-funded NGOs to criminalising “pseudo-liberal LGBT propaganda.”
These new laws have further coincided with an uptick in vandalism at opposition party and civil society offices over the past few months, as well as targeted arrests and increasing violence against critical voices.
Many of the beatings in particular are thought to have been ordered by Zviad Kharazishvili, head of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Special Tasks, who was indeed sanctioned by the US in September for his role in “brutal crackdowns on peaceful protesters and political opponents” during a spate of demonstrations in May.
Lately, Zharazishvili has been charged with appointing security personnel to “detect and prevent violations during the pre-election period and on election day,” with reports of opposition supporters already having their IDs confiscated seemingly cementing fears of voter intimidation ahead of Saturday’s polls.