The number two candidate for presidency

Most analysts suggest the opinion that the presidential candidate of the Georgian Dream coalition, Giorgi Margvelashvili, will win the forthcoming presidential elections. However, they also predict that the race will not be over in the first round and that a second round will be necessary.

Most speculation revolves around who will finish second?

The former governing United National Movement (UNM) has finalized its decision through the primaries by selecting the former Parliamentary Chairman, Davit Bakradze, as their representative in the presidential race.

The UNM organized 6 primaries in different regions across Georgia which eventually revealed the name of the UNM candidate. Davit Bakradze was leading in all the six rounds of the primaries. Although Bakradze was leading from the very beginning, the UNM wanted to attract public attention through a series of primaries, thus showing the public that the UNM is not yet dead.

Overall, the holding of primaries by any political force is a positive fact proving that the country is moving in the direction of democracy slowly but steadily.

Leader of the Georgian Dream coalition, Bidzina Ivanishvili, however, expresses his utmost confidence that their candidate Giorgi Margvelashvili will run first with the convincing majority of votes in the first round.

There is also one more serious candidate who claims she will become the president. This is one of the former leaders of the Rose Revolution, and later the Parliamentary Chairperson of the Rose administration who has since moved into the opposition and is now leading the Democratic Movement –United Georgia, Nino Burjanadze. She is an experienced politician who was initially promoted by President Eduard Shevardnadze and has accumulated valuable experience while in leadership roles during the UNM administration. Burjanadze is well-educated, speaks well in English and Russian, she is balanced and has a good reputation in the political and diplomatic sphere. Nevertheless, she has certain drawbacks due to her controversial steps made during the partnership with the UNM leadership.

There are some other candidates for presidency as well, such as the leader of Georgia’s Way, Salome Zourabichvili; the leader of the Christian-Democratic Movement, Giorgi Targamadze; and the leader of the Labor Party, Shalva Natelashvili. However, it is unlikely that either of those will gather enough votes to qualify for the second candidate for the second round of the elections.