stavo guardando [this video by RLL](https://youtu.be/fF6W3VGeBO8?si=ySXdkhVojtAXWBob) sulla Georgia, in cui è stato menzionato che l’80% dei georgiani vuole essere membro dell’UE e l’87% dei georgiani vede la guerra in Ucraina come una causa condivisa. Da un lato, non sono sorpreso perché è quello che mi aspetterei dai georgiani, dall’altro, però, il fatto che il sogno georgiano sia al potere da così tanto tempo e la loro posizione filo-russa sempre più aperta mi ha dato l’impressione che I georgiani ultimamente sono più filo-russi, ma come mostrano i dati, non è vero, e i georgiani desiderano ancora essere più vicini all’Europa. Quindi la mia domanda è: se i georgiani non sono filo-Russia, se l’80% è filo-UE, come ha fatto il partito filo-russo a ottenere quasi il 50% dei voti negli ultimi dieci anni?
https://old.reddit.com/r/Sakartvelo/comments/1d8jsu4/question_about_georgian_politics_why_does/
di One_Instruction_3567
2 commenti
This is a very popular question so I’ll just copy the text I’ve written for someone else:
“Congrats, you’ve earned yourself a history lesson 😀
The way the West handled 2008 war brought huge disappointment in Georgian public, with all the “Deeply Concerned” jokes… But despite this Georgian people never gave up on the dream to integrate into EU and NATO.
With other major problems, one of the most important talking points of GD (Georgian Dream – Ruling Party) was that the previous Government had brought the war on itself, being reliant on western support. They talked about how Georgia would be abandoned once again if the war broke out. So the promise with which they came to power in 2012 was that Georgia would remain pro-western, but cautious towards Russia.
This worked for everyone, including the west, which did not want to confront Russia. The west even pressured Georgia to let Russia enter WTO.
During the period of 2012-2019 things were quite stable, with Visa-Liberalization and association agreement with the EU.
Things got out of hand on June 20th 2019, when Russian MP addressed Georgian Parliament from the speaker’s chair. The events that followed are known as “Gavrilov’s Night”. 2 people lost an eye in the clashes with the police.
Things were dire for GD, but in 2020 Pandemic hit and they managed to paint themselves as super crisis-managers who protected the public from the horrors of the Pandemic. Despite this, they still scored 48% in the e 2020 elections with reported elections fraud (vote buying, usage of Government resources, coercion of impoverished individuals and etc.). In 2020 GD was still using Pro-Western platform, promising to apply for EU membership in 2024. The West reaffirmed that GD was pro-western.
What followed was that the Opposition refused to enter Parliament and Mass protests begun.
EU sent Charles Michel as the negotiator. Eventually the Opposition gave in to the Western pressure and agreed to stop protests in exchange for reforms in Judiciary and Electoral systems.
Several months later GD broke the agreement and the EU did nothing.
In 2021, during the Local elections the scale of election fraud increased. GD got 48% in total again.
The west did not care and always asked BOTH sides to exercise restraint.
Things changed in 2022, with the Invasion of Ukraine.
Georgian public pressured the Government to send an application to the EU, but you could see they did not really want to.
All the “neutral” play by the Government was explained by the imminent threat of Russian invasion and that Nobody would come to our aid just like in the case of 2008 war and Ukraine.
Anti-Western rhetoric increased in line with the West demanding Judiciary and Electoral reforms from GD.
Things peaked in March 2023 with the introduction of Foreign Agents Bill. This caused for the first time for the West to confront GD and state unambiguously that this law was incompatible with EU/NATO membership. For the first time the west pressured GD to back down, instead of addressing BOTH sides. As a result of 3 nights of violent clashes with the police (including Molotov Cocktails), the Government backed down and promised not to reintroduce the Bill.
This April they reintroduced this bill and we have been protesting ever since. The support is increasing from the west, with Americans announcing travel bans for everyone associated with this law. Financial sanctions coming up.
So no, Georgians have never voted for a Pro-Russian party. NEVER.”
First, GD took the pro-Russian turn after the Ukraine war. There were people who thought that they were pro-Russian even before that, but real turn happened then and there.
Even today, when GD makes anti western commentaries and passes Russian law, they openly can’t say that they are pro-Russian.
They try to play game and are saying that they are pro-Georgian but now all masks are down.
There was ‘t elections since then, so your claim isn’t valid here.
As for the elections. Like all ruling party in Georgia, GD is also heavily dependent on the so called “administrative resources” – i.e. people who work in government organizations. Georgia is a poor country so here it works. Try to be openly pro-opposition here and you lose your job. Instantly.
The second factor is definitely the previous ruling party: National movement. Opposition is very weak at the moment jn Georgia and propaganda works just fine especially in regions.
GD took far-right turn recently and is trying to consolidate conservative people: anti-lgbt laws, Georgia free of western influences etc.
I don’t think GD have more than 25-30% of supporters (and here counts all: real supporters, people who don’t want to lose jobs, frightened people, etc. ).
So I think the election in october would be pretty tense. GD will do everythin, including imprisonment and open terror (it’s already started if you don’t know) to win this election.
But there is every chance that if participation is high, i.e. 65-70% of voters, it won’t be enough for GD and probably will go for extreme violence to stay in power.
There is no really way for them to step back.