Georgia’s president warns of fraud by Russia’s “puppet” government in key elections | international

The world is experiencing a major conflict between democratic and authoritarian forces. Abrasions appear at different times and in different places in Atlas. Ukraine today, with its brutal war, is the center of that tension. But it has many forms. These weeks, Georgia marks another important moment and place in that great conflict. The country faces legislative elections on the 26th, which are a crossroads between the danger of sinking into a pro-Russian authoritarianism and the hope of remaining on the democratic path and European integration. The country’s President Salome Zurabishvili – a post without executive power – condemns what Georgian Dream, a party in charge since 2012 whose authoritarian drift has led the EU to halt the Caucasian country’s accession process, did in response to its fraudulent maneuvers. doing. Call election. However, she hopes that a broader mobilization of voters can overcome the questionable actions she condemns.

“It is clear that Georgian Dream has already lost the elections. “Their support is about 30%, and even with what I call ‘normal fraud,’ something that is relatively common in Georgia, they can manage to increase that figure to about 40%, and That’s being quite generous,” said. The president held a meeting with a group made up of a dozen experts and four journalists at his presidential palace in Tbilisi. “I hope officials will not take the risk of stealing the election,” he said.

He said, “I distinguish between the electoral fraud that we have already seen – and there is no doubt – and the barriers that have been created to make it difficult for Indians in the diaspora to vote.” “We have found many cases of fraud, which we are already accustomed to, and it is almost a calculable thing, estimated at around 10%. However, I believe that widespread mobilization of voters, especially among young people, can counteract these problems. The main concern – and tragedy – will be whether he dares to steal the elections. I am optimistic; “I don’t think they will take that risk, especially if there is clear mobilization within the population.”

Faced with the authoritarian drift of the Georgian Dream – composed of the colonization of state institutions and laws that crush dissent in civil society –, four opposition parties of various motivations have formed a kind of common front to prevent it from remaining in power. -And flow―. Zurabishvili, who was elected to the highest office in 2018 as an independent but with the support of Georgian Dream, became a force of resistance against that party’s excesses throughout her tenure, despite the fact that her position is limited .

He used his veto power to repeal the most controversial of the Georgian DREAM laws – the Foreign Agents Law, which stigmatizes and hinders the action of foreign-funded civil society organizations, having a similar format to the 2012 Russian law. Parliament ultimately passed the law anyway, and it faced a failed attempt. ImpeachmentNow he plays a kind of role as guide and mediator of the heterogeneous opposition coalition.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important this time is. Georgia has not faced such a turning point in its elections for many years. This time, it is not just about choosing political parties, as in the past, but about deciding the future of the country: whether it will continue on its European path, which it has followed since its independence,” Zurabishvili said during the meeting in early October within the framework of a study trip organized by GnomonWise and the CIDOB think tank, and partly funded by the Bertelsmann Foundation, the University of Georgia and the Impact Forum.

For those who doubt the nature of the Georgian dream, the intentions and relations with Russia, which maintained a pro-European outlook at its beginning and even today, despite anti-EU authoritarian acts, clearly intends to leave the European The Path Does Not Speak of Desire, Zurabishvili has a brilliant message in it. “Here the Russians practically have a puppet regime that plays for them and which uses them working styleLeader In fact Bidzina Ivanishvili, from Georgian Dream, is a tycoon who made his fortune in Russia.

“The only independent institution”

Ivanishvili supported Zurabishvili in the 2018 presidential campaign. Today they are at opposite ends. Interviews with a number of opposition leaders show that there is a widespread and high level of trust among them in this institution, considered “the only independent institution” in Georgia.

The heterogeneous frontal nature of the opposition coalition and the absence of a clearly emergent party leader gives the President a role of particular prominence in the current political context. Zurabishvili, born in France to a family that fled the Bolshevik invasion of Georgia in 1921, is using the post to outline a strategy for political conflict and establish common denominators in the coalition.

“I have been working with four pro-European parties on the Georgia Charter for some time. All four have accepted it. The letter sets out an action plan to get Georgia back on track: repeal of anti-European laws adopted in recent months, amnesty for those arrested or fined during the March and April protests, and measures to A series of which Parliament should implement expeditiously. Initiate significant reforms in the justice system,” he says.

Zurabishvili believes that the final government of change should be extremely technocratic. “I strongly support the idea of ​​a technocratic government, as long as it is formed through consultation with political parties. At this stage we need an executive composed of individuals without clearly defined political affiliations. This approach is a direct path to polarization, involving people who do not have a significant political background and who have no major grievances against each other. We must understand that like many other countries, public opinion also reflects a lack of trust in political parties.

The President touches a necessary nerve with that argument. Although the authoritarian drift of the Georgian Dream has very clear characteristics, the past of opposition parties and leaders arouses deep suspicion in a significant sector of the country’s society. The promise of a democratic spring after the so-called Pink Revolution of 2003 ended in a deeply suspicious downpour, generating great hostility to then-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s party, which today forms a key part of the opposition coalition. This context is key to the commitment of Zurabishvili – who was foreign minister under Saakashvili, who offered her the job for a technical executive when she was a French diplomat. That record is the reason why the eventual defeat of the authoritarian Georgian Dream will represent more of a democratic hope and a European path than a guarantee.

But to do that you have to win elections, and there are doubts in Tbilisi – and in Brussels – about whether Georgian Dream will allow them to hold elections with full regularity and then accept possible defeat. Zurabishvili is a figure who will also have an important role to play because of his fluid contacts with Europe. The meeting at which he expressed the views contained in this information followed a tour of European capitals in which he met, among others, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel.