On 24 January, a number of Georgian opposition politicians, representatives of various businesses and ordinary citizens gathered in front of the government’s administrative building in Tbilisi demanding Covid-19 restrictions to be lifted, following the government's decision to prolong restrictions in the country (Caucasus Watch reported).  

Under the hashtag “social explosion” the organisers of the peaceful demonstration said the restrictions affect the social situation in the country and violate human rights. Therefore, the demonstrators called on the government to lift restrictions on winter resorts, reopen schools and kindergartens and restore operation of municipal and intercity transport as well as remove the curfew. The protesters gave members of the government 48 hours to lift restrictions, or otherwise they would begin picketing the buildings of state agencies.

The Leader of the opposition More Freedom-Girchi party Zurab Japaridze, who has been demanding the restrictions to be lifted for several months, said that Georgia would “sink into a deeper dump” if all of the restrictions are not lifted immediately. He also claimed that the government is manipulating the Covid-19 statistics. Grigol Gogelia from Lelo said that the government fails to manage the crisis, but that the restrictions need to be lifted “wisely.” Akaki Bobokhidze from European Georgia said that the total lockdown cannot be the solution to the pandemic as Georgia is “heading straight into the economic abyss.” 

Parallel, in Batumi, a person was detained for emptying a full garbage can on Irakli Chavleishvili, an independent member of the Supreme Council of Adjara. The person was a participant of the protest organised by the non-governmental organisation “Alternative” and the youth wing of the “United National Movement” political party. “For Irakli Chavleishvili, we preferred to throw the garbage onto him rather than to put him in the trash. The same fate awaits all traitors. Those who betray the Georgian people and prefer the comfort of their own will also receive a decent response from the Georgian people,” the movement said. The protesters in Tbilisi expressed solidarity with this move. 

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) released their latest public opinion polls regarding the government’s handling of the Covid-19 and the overall economic situation in the country. The key finding of the poll was that Georgians were concerned about economic challenges (72%) and, for the first time, Covid-19 (16%).  As in previous years, data shows dissatisfaction about the state of the country’s economy. Approximately a quarter (24%) of Georgians reported that they were unemployed as an indicator of the continued economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of special concern to the country’s citizens were health issues, with cost of medicine (56%) and Covid-19 related concerns (41%) at the top of priorities. A majority (60%) credits the government with handling the pandemic well. Looking ahead, a plurality of Georgians (39%) think the worst is yet to come, and almost half (41%) continue to have reservations with regard to vaccination rollout.  

On the political scale, 51% of Georgians rated the legislature’s performance as good (15%) or average (36%), up from a total of 36% in November 2019. However, citizens remain sceptical of parliament’s willingness to address citizen concerns (41% did not believe the parliament would work on issues that matter to them); deploy consultative processes (a quarter and a third of Georgians do not think the new parliament would engage citizens or CSOs on a more act basis, respectively); and behave ethically (only 36% agreed). Speaking on the current political deadlock in the country, most of the citizens agreed that it was important for political parties to collaborate (82%) and for all elected parties to participate in parliament (76%). 

Speaking on the political situation in the country, the Georgian parliament announced that it would discuss the termination requests of the 51 mandates of the opposition parties. On top of that, the Parliament also said that it would discuss the amendments to certain powers for opposition non-faction parliamentarians. According to the amendments, the opposition deputies will be admitted to political debates and bill discussions.