2021 Local Election About To Change the Political Climate in Georgia
By Malkhaz Matsaberidze
Tuesday, October 5
The situation became extremely tense before the October 2 local self-government elections. No matter how the second round ends, protests are inevitable.
If the Georgian Dream fails to get 43% of the vote, it will be asked to call early elections, and if the Georgian Dream announces that it has won more than 43% of the vote, then the reason for the protests will be the rigging of the elections.
Both the government and the opposition say they will definitely win. The country is on the brink of civil strife.
Usually, in democratic countries, public opinion polls are used to predict the outcome of future elections. However, there are no public opinion polls in Georgia that all political forces consider credible. The government calls the "pre-election propaganda" those pre-election ratings, according to which the Georgian Dream will not be able to collect 43% in the October 2 elections, and appeals to the polls commissioned by it, according to which the Georgian Dream will convincingly win.
The opposition is sure that the Georgian Dream rigged the elections and uses the already tried and tested methods used by Ivanishvili’s team.
The pre-election period was marked by the publication of numerous compromising materials for the government. One of the latest reports from Main Channel was that they had seized on a pre-election strategy prepared by Israeli political technologist Moshe Klughaft for the ruling party.
The document published by the Main Channel envisages discrediting the opposition and the independent media, inciting hatred in the society.
Klughaft is considered to be the mastermind of planning an election campaign based on negative and discrediting technologies, and the Georgian Dream has used his services before, but this time the Georgian Dream has denied any connection to Klughaft and has accused the Main Channel of spreading misinformation.
However, the opposition is sure that the Georgian Dream acts according to this strategy and fulfills the points established there, for example, to the former Prime Minister Gakharia.
Gakharia has become a serious problem for the Georgian Dream, whose party, judging by the current ratings, has become the third political force after the Georgian Dream and the National Movement.
The 2021 local elections gained special significance because of the famous document of Charles Michel. Western friends are trying to get the parties to agree to recognize the results if OSCE observers consider the election results fair.