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DECEMBER 2024

Demystifying the Georgian Election

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Demystifying the Georgian Election

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Written by Julian Macfarlane, Tokyo based investigative journalist, writer, author, geopolitical and military analyst

If you read the Mainstream Media – and then go to Alt Media, you are probably confused by what is happening in Georgia.

Is this another Maidan?  Is Georgia going to be a second Ukraine.

There are similarities –but more differences.

Let’s start with the elections.

While voters were offered a choice between 18 candidate lists and candidates could generally campaign freely, Georgia’s parliamentary elections were marred by entrenched polarization and concerns over recently adopted legislation and its impact on fundamental freedoms and civil society, as well as highly divisive campaign rhetoric and widespread reports of pressure on votersOCSE.

The monitoring elections.  As an EU organization, the OCSE /ODIHR has a certain bias which has been criticized for its lack of a consistent methodology or criteria and in countries at odds with the EU which feel they cannot count on its objectivity.

In this case, we need to parse the OCSE report carefully.  It appears to confirm that the recent election offered the voters wide choice and was, for the most part, conducted fairly, with the usual irregularities the always occur in elections, a point   the Georgian Prime MinisterIrakli Kobakhidze made in an interview with the BBC.

It was, however, indeed –as the OSCE said, a “polarized election” with a lot of divisive rhetoric primarily over the Dream Party’s controversial NGO registration and LGBTQ legislation.

That said, it was not fought, as some seem to think, over Dream Party opposition to either the EU or NATO or Ukraine, but previous legislation.

The results however confirmed public support for party policy, even taking into account the benefits of incumbency on the one hand, and intense lobbying by the EU on the other. .

The Georgian Dream garnered 53.91%,

  • the Coalition for Change – 11.03%,
  • the Unity-National Movement party – 10.16%,
  • the Strong Georgia coalition – 8.81%,
  • the Gakharia For Georgia party – 7.77%.

Still, 13 EU member states demanded an inquiry into  complaints about the election and “remedies” for  of violations –in other words, they rejected the legitimacy of the elections and demanded a re-run – much as the EU and the West have demanded in the case of Venezuela’s recent elections, which were also decisively in favor of a government, with which Washington and the EU disagrees.

Germany, Canada, Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine refused to recognize the election results. 

In the US, State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller  accused the Dream Party of  “misuse of public resources, vote buying and voter intimidation”  and talked of “consequences” if  the ”Georgian government’s direction does not change”

“Direction”?  “Change how? 

Miller was specific: by “withdrawing and repealing anti-democratic legislation.”

By this he meant the laws that the election was fought over –which had been passed democratically according to the constitution.  This is what ‘polarized” the election. 

On the one hand, there was a law little different from similar laws in all Western countries, requiring NGOs to register as foreign agents if they represent foreign interests. 

There is also LGBTQ legislation, which adopts a conservative approach to LGBTQ issues not substantially different to that of the Republican party banning sex change for minors and the like.

The “Dream Party” is a conservative, neoliberal, Christian party. 

It has previously been pro-Western and anti-Russian supporting EU and NATO membership– and also Ukraine!

Of course, circumstances have changed, with NATO’s defeat in Ukraine, the collapse of European economies, and the rise of EurAsia, especially the spectacular growth of Russia and China and the ongoing growth of BRICS and its many options

Demystifying the Georgian Election

Conor Gallagher

Georgia is strategically located on the Black Sea—the gateway to West Asia, with the Chinese building a port in Anaklia, not to mention highways. While Georgia does not have diplomatic relations with Russia, its trade with Russia has risen many fold over the last decade – much greater than with the EU or US.

So the West does not have a lot of leverage.It simply does not have much to offer.

What leverage it did have was in the form of the NGOs, which for many years filled the gap left after the dissolution of the USSR in governmental services – giving them immense influence in a social context.

The Dream Party is nationalist — first and foremost Pro-Georgian and while desirous of international cooperation, it rejects all forms of foreign control. While it acknowledged the usefulness of NGOs, it felt Georgian well-being should not be dependent on foreign agency.

It argued that registering NGOs was one step in the direction of full independence.

The law was vetoed by the Georgian President, Salome Zourabichvili, a former French diplomat, associated with French intelligence services and a supporter of European NeoCon Ursula van der Leyen.  The veto was then overridden by parliament.

Demystifying the Georgian Election

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Now, Zourabiichvili, whose position is largely ceremonial, has labelled the election “rigged–by the Russians who have no presence in Georgia — and is now calling for street protests in the streets in front of parliament.

That and the reported presence of Ukrainian Azov fighters in Tbilisi has generated some speculation about the possibility of a “color revolution” of some kind.

Demystifying the Georgian Election

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On the other hand, Viktor Orban of Hungary is in Tbilisi to congratulate Georgia on “not becoming a second Ukraine”! Indicating also that Europe is not united in its opinions .

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Prigozhin

there are certain people wanting the third world war it is not surprising this hatred against russia

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The Iceman Cometh

those people think of themselves as masters of the universe. such a rude awakening awaits them. i almost feel sorry for them, until i realize what their hubris has already unleashed upon the world.

Mr. Peabody

an economic drought is about to turn borrell’s little garden into a plot of weeds.

Last edited 1 month ago by Mr. Peabody
Paul

i guess globo shlomo will have to take their proxy shopping elsewhere.

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Redguard

“germany, canada, estonia, ireland, italy, latvia, lithuania, poland, sweden and ukraine refused to recognize the election results.” all of these are worthless shithole protectorates of usa. georgia doesn’t need recognition of a literal ball of feces.

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The Iceman Cometh

it amazes me, that ireland that once fought the english crown for its own independence has turned out so.

AM Hants

the irish have been played. go back to 1917, when the ira were formed and the scripts they run with. what also happened in that year? bolshevik russian revolution, which led to the bolshevik soviet union. created by the city of london, just like the ira (believe it or not). they will do whatever their masters tell them to do and their masters are not based in eire.

The Court Jester

russia should demand reparations from latvia for the latvian rifles’ support of lenin. without their help, the bolsheviks might never have prevailed.

Marianne

ukraine in this context looks extremly funny

Joseph Day

who cares who accepts the results, mind your own business your acceptance is not required.

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The Iceman Cometh

so, georgian dream supposedly won 54% of the vote while 4 other parties each won about 10% of the vote.

what does the west want here, a new election, where georgian dream only gets 45% of the vote while each of the other parties gets 12%? what does that accomplish? georgian dream would still win the majority of the vote. does it expect a ruling coalition of the 4 parties, where they battle each other as often as not?

brussels, you are nothing more than a sour note band of pirates.

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Last edited 1 month ago by The Iceman Cometh
The Court Jester

georgia dream told that french manchurian candidate of a president to prove her accusations. put up or shut up, they said. she thought they said ‘put out and shut up’ and is now suing them for sexual harassment in the hague.

anon

yes, but you don’t understand, iceman. in the eu you have to keep on voting till you get the right result. those are the rules in our democracy human rights rules based order. because that’s just who we are and those are our values. otherwise putin will murder us all in our beds and the north koreans will eat all our dogs.

Mr. Peabody

so, when the hell was georgia ever in europe to begin with? during the ice ages maybe?

it’s always been about bringing all the black sea peripheral nations into nato and nothing more. another of brzezinski’s little bag of tricks.

The Court Jester

how have you managed to see through all that fog the west throws up at every foreign adventure?

Kibosh

the west can rig some of the elections some of the time, but not all of the elections all of the time… for times like this, they start with crying, bitching, making threats, and then if they can, resort to carpet bombing and genocide to “get the democracy” they want…for the country they care so much about… yeah reet…rinse, repeat, the inverse of any zionist media mouth piece is usually closer to the truth…

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