Clashes, detentions and inter-party affairs 

On 7 October, the Georgian police detained four individuals for group violence against Temur Shubitidze, the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party member and an advisor to the chairman of the Marneuli City Council (Sakrebulo). An investigation found that on 30 September, Temur Shubitidze was driving on the Zemo Ponichala-Marneuli highway, when his vehicle was hit by another car on purpose. This second vehicle contained the above mentioned three individuals and also the fourth detainee, identified only as L.G. The identified individuals physically assaulted Temur Shubitidze and managed to flee from the scene. Shubitidze was hospitalised, where he was diagnosed with multiple facial bone fractures and underwent emergency surgery. 

Also, a day earlier, the police detained two individuals over the 29 September clash in Marneuli district between supporters of the GD and opposition United National Movement (UNM). UNM member Davit Kirkitadze said the detention of only those two individuals is not enough and that the police should detain “everyone, from the organiser to the performer.” He also claimed that the clash was organised by the Marneuli DEC chair and the head of the GD headquarter. 

In addition, four members of the opposition party ‘Strategy Agmashenebeli’ who were protesting against the fines issued to their supporters for putting up posters in August, have also been detained. The party members, including Director General of Strategy Agmashenebeli Paata Manjgaladze, were detained for disobedience towards law enforcement, while the party was fined 1,000 lari for its members illegally opening the tents in front of Tbilisi City Hall.  

The Strategy Agmashenebeli leader Giorgi Vashadze accused the Tbilisi Mayor and GD official Kakha Kaladze for obstructing the election campaign. Kaladze responded by saying that Vashadze’s statement was “not serious.” “There are laws, which should be observed by everyone. We will not allow anyone to overthrow the city,” Kaladze added.  

It should be noted that Strategy Agmashenebeli presented its top candidates for the upcoming elections a few days ago. Vashadze is the first person on the list, Tako Charkviani – the second. The election list also included Paata Manjgaladze, Teona Akubardia, Bedo Narkaia, Sergo Chikhladze, Davit Tsekvava and many others.

The German Ambassador to Georgia Hubert Knirsch noted while talking to the press that the pre-election period is proceeding traditionally tense in Georgia. He called on all political forces to hold the pre-election period without violence.

Party financing insights 

Georgia’s State Audit Office unveiled how much funding the parties in the country received in September. The ruling GD received the most, with donations worth 6,495,650 million lari in election contributions last month, followed by the Lelo party, which received 1,312,590 lari. Third place went to Strategy Agmashenebeli, which received 1,172,837 lari,  fourth was the UNM, which received  665,400 lari followed by European Georgia, which received 408,031 lari. 245 individuals contributed to the GD, while 59 individuals did so for Lelo, 36 for Strategy Agmashenebeli and 90 to the UNM.  

Transparency International Georgia (TI) also published reports on the donations GD and UNM candidates made to their parties. The TI report on GD revealed that during 2012-20, 14 out of the 30 candidates have personally made donations to the party, a sum of which amounts to 740,826 lari. TI Georgia noted, however, that a larger amount of donations to the GD come from the said candidates’ business partners and family members, which totalled 3,702,806 lari (USD 1,195,000). The main contributors to the GD were Gocha Enukidze –1,254,000 lari, who is running in Ambrolauri, Oni Tsageri, Lentekhi and Mestia district;  Zaal Dugladze –990,000 lari, running in Khashuri and Kareli district; and Irakli Khakhubia –458,000 lari, running in Poti, Khobi and Senaki district.

The watchdog also noted that 6 out of the 30 GD candidates were not conducting any business activities and have not made political donations. These were: Sozar Subari, Nodar Turdzeladze, Davit Sergeenko, Shalva Kereselidze, Zaur Dargali and Nino Latsabidze. In addition, TI Georgia also named GD candidates who have previously made donations to the UNM, namely: Beka Odisharia, Davit Songhulashvili, Gocha Enukidze, Zaal Dugladze, Irakli Khakhubia and Anzor Bolkvadze. 

As for the UNM report, the publication found that 16 out of 25 contenders are involved in various entrepreneurial activities and are overall connected to 113 companies. The watchdog noted that out of the 113 companies, 56 are connected to only two candidates, Kakha Okriashvili (running for Mtskheta, Dusheti, Tianeti and Kazbegi municipalities) and Tsezar Chocheli (running for Bolnisi, Dmanisi, Tetritskaro and Tsalka municipalities), from the recently established Progress and Freedom Party.  

According to the watchdog, companies tied to seven candidates also have a history of public procurement in 2012-20. TI found that companies connected to Kakha Okriashvili and Tsezar Chocheli have received more than 95.5 million lari through public tenders and procurement. TI Georgia noted that only one candidate, Bondo Tevdoradze, has neither conducted any business activities or made political donations.  

TI Georgia also named the UNM-led Bloc candidates who personally, or whose encirclement, made donations to other parties, including the ruling Georgian Dream in 2012-20. According to the watchdog, Kakha Okriashvili, Roland Pipia and Tsezar Chocheli, personally or their encirclement, made donations to the GD worth of 388,000 lari, 175,000 lari and 69,780 lari respectively. The respective numbers for Dilar Khabuliani and Manuchar Kvirkvelia stand at 65,000 and GEL 60,000 lari. Nato Chkheidze on the other hand, had a track record of donating to the Kremlin-friendly Alliance of Patriots in worth 113,500 lari and State for People party in worth of 500 lari. Levan Khabeishvili donated 1,898 lari to the State for People, while Vazha Chitashvili donated 2,000 lari to European Georgia.

Controversial report regarding public broadcaster’s party coverage 

The Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) responded to the interim monitoring report prepared by the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, which emphasized that the First Channel information policy towards the Government was both neutral and loyal. 

The GPB stated that it believes conclusions in the report were not monitoring-based. Moreover, assessments in the report differ from the facts set out in the same document. The GPB said that it will apply to international organisations in regard to the report.

According to the figure, in the quantitative part of the monitoring report, the First Channel coverage of the competing political parties was mostly neutral. The report also said that First Channel was especially loyal to Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, but at the same time, only 12% of Gakharia’s coverage was in a positive light and the remaining 83% of coverage maintained neutrality. The documents also stated that in some cases the “Moambe” news program was biased and thus breached the ethical standards. The part of the report: “Gender Stereotypes on First Channel” was especially concerning. It described the nomination by the ruling “Georgian Dream” of Nino Latsabidze as a Parliamentary candidate for the town of Rustavi. The report cites the final phrase, which says: “And, finally, she is the mother of 4.” The report authors assessed the phrase as strengthening gender stereotypes and sexism. They say that the phrase emphasises motherhood as a woman’s key duty.

CRRC study on voter profiles

Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) Georgia released a policy bulletin on analysing the key differences between Georgian Dream (GD) and United National Movement (UNM) supporters, finding that “the only thing that divides” these groups is “explicitly political, such as partisan victories and politicians themselves.” The bulletin concluded that although “there is a division in society, there is little political polarization.”

According to the policy bulletin, despite the “divisive political discourse,” Georgians are “generally united on what matters to them in terms of issues”, such as the economy and foreign policy. CRRC Georgia asserts that one of the key conditions for polarisation is political partisanship, which, it argues, is absent: “in the NDI survey… with 51% of the public [not aligned with a particular party] or not knowing which party they support.” Also, the policy bulletin states that although GD and UNM “are political opponents, Georgian society is not split between them.”

According to CRRC Georgia, their and NDI’s data show key issues the Georgian public  is generally united on, such as jobs, inflation, goals to join the EU and NATO. Regarding the recent large-scale economic reforms, GD and UNM supporters have different views on only one of them, namely on banking regulations adopted on 19 January 2019, while showing no significant differences in support for the pension scheme, the other major reform. 

CRRC Georgia asserts that most Georgians are socially conservative, with “few partisan differences,” highlighted by UNM and GD supporters reporting similarly on a variety of issues. Differences between the supporters of both parties emerged only regarding LGBT issues and wearing earrings, with UNM supporters being “16 points more likely than GD supporters to report that LGBT rights are important,” as well as 12 points more likely to approve of their sons wearing earrings. Although support for these two issues is still considerably low.

Despite highlighting the differences and similarities between UNM and GD supporters, the policy bulletin also cited data on voters who support “liberal parties like European Georgia and Republican Party,” as well as people with no party allegiances, or who refused to name the party they support, with all reporting similar attitudes as the supporters of UNM and GD.