The presidential candidates and their promises

A comical situation can be observed in Georgia. 34 candidates for presidency have already registered for the election marathon. According to the registration conditions, candidates must submit 26,000 signatures from their supporters. So, it is likely that not all 34 candidates will make the final list. A period of time has been given for this, but meanwhile all of the potential candidates give their full range of promises and the guarantees.

Not all the names of some of the candidates are known. It looks like some of them have submitted their names just for fun. Some promise a $300 pension. There is a lady, a mother of seven children; there is a man who calls himself “a good-hearted Stalin”, as well some candidates that even exploit the religious sentiments of the population.

There is a variety of funny slogans the candidates possess. Journalists make fun of such slogans like “ everybody as a candidate ” , “become a candidate and help yourself,” “bring an extra candidate and receive extra free TV time,” “you want people to talk about you? Start an election campaign and burn extra calories” and so on.

Of course such people cannot be taken seriously. But are however, some solid and serious candidates as well, but it is difficult for the population, and even for political analysts to distinguish between their realistic and unrealistic promises.

The powers, rights and responsibilities of the future president of Georgia will be limited according to the new state constitution. So, many promises concerning the daily problems of the voters could be beyond the abilities of the future president to affect.

Most of the real candidates like Georgian Dream representative, Giorgi Margvelashvili, United National Movement (UNM) candidate, Davit Bakradze; and candidate of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia, Nino Burjanadze, give a wide range of promises that will be difficult for them to fulfill because some of their claims lay beyond the level of responsibility of the future president.

According to the Georgian constitution which will enter the force after the presidential elections scheduled on October 27, 2013, the president will lead only the country’s foreign policy, so, they will not be able to interfere in the country’s domestic issues.

People who come to meet with the candidates ask them to address their daily problems without realizing that a president will not be involved in such programs, that they will represent the country’s foreign relations and be the guarantor of the country’s national independence and unity.

In fact, the future president is a symbol of a leader of the nation without representing the executive power, but people so far understand the president as a person who can do anything. People understand that a president can give orders to meet the demands of the population on infrastructural changes, the construction of roads, the decrease in the consumer price on utilities, increase pensions and so on. Of course during the election campaign no candidate will say that this is not their problem. They cannot do that. This will immediately turn the voters away to other candidates who can provide absolutely absurd promises for the sake of gaining more votes.

Of course, if he follows common sense, the representative of the Georgian Dream coalition, will certainly have an unofficial advantage because he represents the ruling party and will definitely have more levers to influence the government.