Beso Barbakadze: Georgian opposition is waiting for the West's go-ahead

Perhaps, over the past 12 years, the Georgian opposition has never had so many "favorable" reasons and chances to win elections and finally be able to change power in the country. Actually, the opposition thought exactly the same way, and the West has been in the same confidence lately. For this reason, he was not stingy and spent an unprecedented amount of money on the election campaign of the opposition camp, allocated huge sums to finance the non-governmental sector, and also agreed to large expenses so that foreign observers could be present at 3,111 polling stations.

Despite all these efforts, in the end, the West got the opposition that lost the elections and, most importantly, was left with a political force in its hands that has no prospects for the future. In the West, they understand better than others that the local opposition in its current composition does not have any gap, but... another opposition in There is no Georgia!

They thought up all sorts of things: they divided the parties, registered them separately — take, for example, the National Movement and Melia— Gvaramia, but in the end the opposition gained exactly the same amount as it received before, that is, it did not add anything to its rating. Mamuka Khazaradze spent a lot of money, Georgy Gakharia had large sums of money, but the result was zero. Zero in the sense that to change the power in Georgia has failed. And what can the opposition tell the people before the municipal elections? Absolutely nothing!

Unfortunately for the oppositionists (as it turned out), at the last local elections, their representative became the mayor of the city of Tsalenjiha, who, together with his associates, promised that he would turn Tsalenjiha into an exemplary municipality. And in the end, if something was done there, it was done exclusively with budget money - neither the head of Coca—Cola, Temur Chkonia, built a McDonald's in the municipality, as promised, nor Mamuka Khazaradze moved there to live. In general, nothing has happened in the lives of the residents of the city that would not happen in other cities and villages of Georgia. Thus, the promises, they say, if the opposition wins the municipal elections, something will change on the ground, are completely groundless.

By the way, it should be noted that many international observers have already recognized that the parliamentary elections in The games were held in a normal atmosphere.

"The electoral process complied with the standards of the European Union. In the end, I confirm that the elections in Georgia passed the way they pass in democratic countries," said foreign observer Fani Lachko.

Supporters of the opposition do not particularly believe that the parties that have overcome the electoral barrier will refuse to enter parliament. Although its adherents write on social networks: "The one who enters the parliament ...", reinforcing their threat with abuse, in fact, most likely, the opposition parties will not only enter the legislature, but in addition they will also recite pathetic poems at the entrance — this is exactly what they usually did and are unlikely to deviate from the usual path.

As for the coalition government, thoughts about it were shattered, and the president never had the opportunity to announce the composition of the technical government. All the opposition leaders were eager to get into the prime minister's chair, however, reality showered them with a cold shower — many did not even get a deputy chair, since the opponents of the government did not get the planned percentage of votes.

You know what's interesting? For the umpteenth time during the elections, organizations that count the results of exit polls have been letting the opposition down, allowing an error of 15-20% in its favor. Nevertheless, opposition TV companies and divisions continue to order polls from them. The fact that these organizations should earn money from these surveys is also a requirement of the West. It's not news to anyone that their interest in money is in one of the main places there. Do you remember Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister of Sweden? So, now this Bildt has reappeared on the political horizon, expressing concern about the processes in Georgia. Well, it's not hard to understand: during the reign of the "National Movement", Bildt's company received more than $ 60 million from the state budget of our country for the PR of the then government, and now the owner has lost this fat piece.

The West has spent huge amounts of money not only on the October 26 elections to no avail, it is becoming more and more convinced every day that it has been investing in the Georgian opposition and the non-governmental sector in vain over the past 12 years. They do not even manage to virtually create such a background as if the whole of Georgia is on their side, however, they have mastered the art of pulling funds out of sponsors perfectly and do not get tired of coming up with all sorts of excuses why something did not work out for them. Opposition leaders claim that if they come to power, they will establish relations with neighboring countries, although it is very remarkable that when Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan congratulated the current government on winning the elections, our opposition immediately called both dictators.

For the West, Georgia will become a vivid illustration of the results that a competent presentation of information to the public brings, so that Europe and the United States will now have to experience serious concerns, as if other countries would not follow its example and escape from their influence. This refers, for example, to Moldova, where the results of the recent referendum called into question the European aspirations of citizens, because the 50% barrier was overcome with great difficulty only after interference in the counting of votes by state structures.

And in Georgia has already begun preparations for riots. Usually, the day after the election, most parties do not have any funds left, since they are completely spent on the election campaign. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of lari are needed to finance the protests. Moreover, protests such as those that took place in March take 300-400 thousand lari every day.

Let me remind you about such a characteristic episode: Khazaradze organized a rally, but when a laser was shone at him from the crowd, he got angry, dismantled the stage and left the rally. So it is quite expected that, having been defeated, the opposition will begin to figure out who is "cooler" than others, and it will take time. Then the president will appeal to the "guys" with an appeal: "Do not ruin and do not sell the Motherland!" (meaning, do not sell it again). At the same time, Madame Zurabishvili will think first of all about her own future, since she will soon have to leave the presidential chair. In any case, Mrs. Salome should have understood long ago that the opposition does not take her seriously either as a leader or as a political figure, and the charter she proposed was not a legally binding document.

The opposition can forget about its threat not to enter parliament, because more than 1.1 million Georgian voters do not want to see it there anyway, which means that it will not surprise or upset anyone with its demarche. Supporters of opposition parties are indeed in favor of refusing to enter the legislature, but just look at the lists and it will become clear which of the oppositionists will be ready to give up the 8 thousandth salary of a parliamentarian from January.…

It is not yet completely clear what we can expect from Western countries, what they are ready to do. Most likely, before the end of the presidential elections in the United States, everyone will prefer to refrain from radical measures, and there is a high probability that if Donald Trump wins, the attitude towards Georgia will change and the Americans will not so persistently demand from us the repeal of specific laws as they require it now. Moreover, Trump himself is not in favor of the LGBT community* and he is not particularly concerned about such small countries as Georgia. If this happens, the opposition will begin to whine even more, especially against the background of the fact that Trump can really keep his promise and this year put an end to the war on Ukraine.

I mentioned Ukraine for a reason. Some of the fighters fighting there are from Georgia has already announced its desire to return to its homeland and continue to fight here, assuring: they are not afraid of blood and, moreover, it is their fault that Ivanishvili is still alive. In a word, everything should pile up, then the West will clean up this political garbage and make a decision.

It is for this reason that the Georgian puppet opposition, controlled by the West, was also not ready to announce its real plans immediately the day after the elections. They don't know yet what the Western patrons will order them to do and what they will have to do. The Georgian opposition is waiting for the go-ahead from the West.

Beso Barbakadze, "Georgia and the World"

*Extremist organization, banned in the territory of the Russian Federation