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Fear and Loathing in Zugdidi: Dirty Tricks on the Georgian Campaign Trail

Amid mounting authoritarianism and widespread allegations of election-rigging, will Georgia’s democracy survive parliamentary polls scheduled for 26 October?

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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. 

Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the created by him the Georgian Dream party greets demonstrators during a rally in support of "Russian law" in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 29. Photo: Associated Press / Alamy
Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the created by him the Georgian Dream party greets demonstrators during a rally in support of “Russian law” in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 29. Photo: Associated Press / Alamy

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. 

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Rally the Troops

Georgia’s government is arguably its largest employer, with just over 300,000 civil servants in a country where the population barely tops 3.5 million. 

Growing at an annual rate of 5% since 2017, government bodies have often been shown to artificially inflate public sector employment through the creation of unnecessary positions – such as the six cashiers hired to work at Zugdidi Botanical Gardens in Georgia’s western Samegrelo province, despite admission being free.

Mobilising the support of this workforce and their families, whether through incentives or threats of job loss, it’s speculated Georgian Dream may be able to secure up to 25% of the popular vote by default. 

With teachers reportedly a favoured target, Byline Times travelled to the western Georgian city of Senaki last week to interview Shorena Shamatava, a school principal who claims to have been demoted in August for supporting one of the country’s opposition groups. 

“I first spoke out about our government’s response to the war in Ukraine. Since then, the pressure has been almost constant,” Shamatava said, adding she believes she now stands to lose her regular teaching position as well. 

“They’re using schools to indoctrinate children and spread their propaganda among parents and the community,” she said. “The hardest thing is the isolation – none of my neighbours talk to me anymore.”

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A Brighter Tomorrow

Beyond the mobilisation of public servants, Georgian Dream has recently announced a slate of public projects under an investment push meticulously targeted, critics say, to sway votes among key demographics. 

Alongside hikes to state pensions, forgiveness of tax liabilities and an amnesty on non-premeditated crimes, among other things, this has included an unprecedented support program for, bizarrely enough, the country’s 10,000-strong beekeeping sector. 

“These hives they’ve promised, they’ll be outdated within a few years. The government might as well have given people potatoes,” says Irakli Janashia, a professor at Tbilisi’s Agricultural University who manages an apiary outside Senaki.

“In the long run, it achieves nothing. It can only be linked to buying votes,” he adds. “I don’t participate in the elections, but there are plenty of opportunists out there – I’d say 90% – who are perfectly happy to have something for free.”

Further examples feature short-term employment opportunities auspiciously timed to coincide with the election cycle, such as authorities in Zugdidi undertaking to repave almost 70 roads between August and October as part of what local opposition groups suspect represents an underhand “jobs for votes” scheme.

Approached by Byline Times, roadworker crews in the western Georgian city refused to comment on those allegations, directing questions to their supervisor who placed a call to PR officers at the company subcontracted for the work before agreeing to talk. 

“At no point at all have we received any pressure from the government,” the supervisor said. “I have no interest in discussing the election, only to say whatever the result, it will be what’s best for Georgians and our country.”

Will Neal’s reporting for this story was supported by the Civil Society Foundation, formerly the Open Society Georgia Foundation.


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