On 31 August, the Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili signed the decree in which she named 31 October as the date for the country’s elections.

"I would like to address the public and urge you to spend this period, these two months before the elections, as peacefully as possible. In today’s conditions, when we have already gone through the COVID pandemic and quite a difficult year, it is necessary to prepare very calmly for the elections,” she said.

After the signing of the decree, the National Communications Commission launched pre-election media monitoring for the 2020 parliamentary elections. The Commission will be monitoring about 50 broadcasters in 24-hour formats. The commission will regularly publish monitoring reports. The monitoring will extend to pre-election advertising, political debates, news bulletins, public-political programs and public polls. 

To note, the elections in Georgia would be held under a new system. The number of parliamentarians elected proportionally through party lists will increase from 77 to 120 while the number of single-member majoritarian constituencies will fall from 73 to 30. A political party must receive at least 40% of the vote in order to be assigned a majority of seats in parliament. For the parties to enter parliament, a 1% vote threshold is needed.

Although freshly announced, in the past few days many events unfolded which set the pre-election campaign in Georgia in motion. 

Saakashvili announces return; united opposition presents a set of reforms

On 27 August, Georgia’s former President and current chairman of the Executive Committee for Reforms in Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili again made a public statement regarding Georgia. In a Facebook post, Saakashvili apologized for the mistakes he made during his time in power and announced that he will return to Georgia. In relation to Saakashvili’s involvement in Georgian internal affairs, the country’s Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has still not approved the return of Georgia’s Ambassador to Ukraine Teimuraz Sharashenidze. “I have a very close relationship with my colleague, [the] Ukrainian Foreign Minister… Ukrainians are aware of Georgia’s position about this issue. Sharashenidze will return back to Ukraine when needed,” said Zalkaliani.

On 31 August, libertarian party Girchi announced that they and several other leading opposition parties had agreed to support a set of reforms if elected. According to them, these included ‘decentralising’ the police, dismantling the State Security Service and  forming a standalone anti-corruption agency, something that has been touted by several Georgian watchdog groups. 

They also named several economically liberal policies, including freeing private education from state regulations and limiting government spending to 20% of GDP. Other parties that have signed up include the UNM, European Georgia, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Nino Burjanadze’s Democratic Movement, Lelo, and Aleko Elisashvili’s Citizens Party. The same day, Sergi Kapanadze, an MP from European Georgia, added that they were also advocating for introducing jury trials and inviting American judges to trials where there was a danger of government pressure.

A week earlier, 30 opposition parties signed a memorandum, stating that they agreed to "protect both their own and each other's votes and not to allow the ruling party to steal votes.” The representatives of the united opposition announced that they will have a database on violations observed during the elections and a coordination mechanism on how to react to said violations. In addition, the parties agreed on issues of cooperation with NGOs and international partners in order to make the elections as transparent as possible.

Although most Georgian opposition parties will opt to go out on the elections in a unified format, internal disagreements still persist. On 27 August, one of the leaders of European Georgia Giga Bokeria stated that voters would punish the United National Movement (UNM) in the upcoming elections as “the Georgian citizens do not make mistakes when assessing who is politically immature and irresponsible.” He made this comment after the UNM announced it would nominate Khatia Dekanoidze as a majoritarian MP candidate for the UNM in Isani district of Tbilisi. Bokeria said that this decision was 'bad and harmful for the opposition and for the fight against the chairman of the ruling Georgian Dream party Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Alliance of Patriots under immense pressure

On 31 August, Georgia’s State Audit Office has launched an investigation into the legality of the funding of the 'Alliance of Patriots of Georgia' party, following the Dossier Center’s publication, which tracks the criminal activities associated with the Kremlin and where it stood that the party requested more than $8 million from the Administration of the President of Russia (Caucasus Watch reported).

The party also faced condemnation last week from both Georgian Dream and several opposition parties over billboards erected in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. The billboards set up near the Turkish border and in the regional capital, Batumi, displayed Adjara in red — along with Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). 

The Head of Adjara’s government, Tornike Rizhvadze, called the banner ‘absolutely unacceptable’ while the opposition Strategy Aghmashenebeli Party demanded it to be investigated. Supporters of other opposition groups accused the Alliance of Patriots of stoking separatism and waging an anti-Turkey campaign in the region.

The Alliance of Patriots initially defended the billboards as a warning against ‘Turkey’s economic and ideological expansion’ in the region. Later, party leader Irma Inashvili suggested that the United National Movement Party (UNM) may have sabotaged the poster with an ‘altered design.’ 

Comments from US and EU ambassador’s on the upcoming elections

“The ruling party has an additional responsibility to ensure that the elections are conducted in a transparent, fair manner, and therefore that message from the ruling party is correct,” said the US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan, adding that the same responsibility lies on the opposition parties. She also warned about Russia’s influence in the upcoming elections and said that the US and its partners would “implement efforts and programs aimed at raising public awareness so that they can spot fake news from quality journalism,” in the upcoming elections.

The EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell said that as an international observer, it is more important to see how a party will win at the parliamentary elections in the country rather than who wins. “I will keep an eye on this election campaign,” he added.