Georgia grapples with the high numbers of residence seekers

Georgia grapples with the high numbers of residence seekers from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) published statistics on the entry and stay of citizens of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus in Georgia in March 2022. According to the statistics, 16,669 Ukrainian citizens, 43,152 Russian citizens and 19,898 Belarusian citizens entered Georgia in March 2022.

During the same period, 8,151 citizens of Ukraine, 17,201 citizens of Russia and 14,030 citizens of Belarus remained in Georgia (difference between incoming and outgoing).

Compared to March 2019, the number of Ukrainian citizens remaining in Georgia (the difference between incoming and outgoing) increased by 8,657, the number of Russian citizens by 14,593, and the number of Belarusian citizens by 14,047.

In the case of Russian citizens, the number of those remaining in Georgia (difference between incoming and outgoing) has increased by 559% compared to March 2019.

According to IDFI, 60% of Russian and Belarusian adults entering Georgia in March 2022, and only 35% of Ukrainian citizens, are male. Only 10% of male citizens entering Georgia, including Russian and Belarusian, are under the age of 18, while 39% of Ukrainian male citizens are minors. According to IDFI, in March 2022, 0.75% of Russian citizens, 0.38% of Ukrainian citizens and only 0.08% of Belarusian citizens wishing to enter the country were refused entry at the border.

After the start of the war in Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions on Russia and Belarus, thousands of citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia left for Georgia.

Newest poll shows decreasing support for the opposition

According to the newest IRI poll, 31% of those polled would vote for the Georgian Dream, 16% for the United National Movement and 4% for Giorgi Gakharia's party "For Georgia" if parliamentary elections were held next week.

Elene Khoshtaria's "Droa", "Strategy Builder", "Labor Party", Ana Dolidze's party "For the People" and "Lelo" have 2% support. The National Movement has the highest negative rating - 35% of respondents say they would never vote for this party. 27% have the same attitude towards the Georgian Dream, and 19% towards the Patriots Alliance.

According to the study, the feeling of political polarization has intensified in the country. When asked whether the country's policy is aimed at dividing the society or unification, 71% of respondents said that Georgia is increasingly polarized. Against the background of growing polarization, 60% of Georgian citizens want to see new political parties in the upcoming elections.

However, 49% of respondents strongly or partially support early elections, 36% oppose it, and 10% believe that holding early elections makes no sense and will not change anything.

The study was conducted between March 4-24, 2022, on behalf of the Research Center of the International Republican Institute, by Dr. Rasa Alishauskine, of the Baltic Studies and Gallup Organization. The research field work was conducted by IPM. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews. The sample included 1,486 respondents with voting rights and at voting age. Data were weighted by age, sex, region, and settlement size. The margin of error is +/- 2.5%, the response rate was 64%. The study was funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

The ruling party was elated by the results. "We have regular surveys, so we rely on our data when we analyze something. One thing can be said about this survey. It is natural for everyone to see that the opposition is in the worst condition in all areas, and this has been confirmed even by the research conducted by this company," Irakli Kobakhidze said.

At the same time, according to Irakli Zarkua, a member of the Georgian Dream, surveys show that the majority of the population considers the Georgian Dream to be the leading party.

"The fact is that the majority of the population of Georgia still believes that the Georgian Dream is the leading party and that the National Movement is in a dormant mode. Remember you said 16 and 7 percent, and by the way, I want to say that the NDI is not loyal anyway. What was revealed in the IRI section? Among them is the ranking of individual politicians and the patriarch, the representative of the ruling party in the top four. "This once again indicates that the policy pursued by the Georgian Dream is acceptable to the majority of the Georgian population," added Irakli Zarkua.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) published a new study. The survey covers various areas - including support for political parties, trust in public figures, as well as how the government has handled the pandemic, foreign policy and other important issues.

Georgian PM denies ties to Russian businessman

The Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, denied the information about the meeting with the Russian oligarch Ali Uzdenov, which was allegedly given to Georgia by the sanctioned oligarch and former owner of the controlling stake of Sistema JSFC, Vladimir Evtushenkov.

At the same time, the Prime Minister confirmed to journalists that a Georgian businessman, Davit Khidasheli, had sent him "certain business proposals" and sent him to Tbilisi together with Uzdenov. "I told them very simply that I could not meet, I was not in the city," Gharibashvili said, adding that they had been referred to local businessmen. "In general, why is there so much agitation? What happened? Did something criminal happen? Did something like this happen?" – he added.

Speaking on two audio recordings where Evtushenkov allegedly spoke to Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili about Uzdenov's visit to Georgia, Prime Minister Gharibashvili said that "the goal of the distributors of these recordings was and still is to start a war in Georgia."

"They are bitter and desperate, trying to mislead the public, our international partners, with something like this. I cannot believe that the Russian businessman you mentioned is calling a journalist here. This is unbelievable. It could be something like a fairy tale. I do not know, I do not want to talk about this topic. I have a lot of issues and thoughts to think about," he said. Speaking to reporters, Gharibashvili reiterated that the government would not allow anyone to use Georgia to ratchet up tensions in the region.