Ahead of parliamentary elections in Georgia, billionaire and founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is stepping out of the political shadows to win a two-thirds majority in parliament and implement constitutional changes.
Until now he managed from the background, and now he is a billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili is running. His partyGeorgian "san" wants to deal with the "traitors" and, perhaps, make a deal with Moscow on the seceded territories.
A two-thirds majority in the parliament so that they can change the constitution - that is the goal of "Georgian Dream", the ruling party in Georgia, before the elections at the end of October, writes Deutsche says.
The goal was declared by the founder and honorary president of that party, Bidzina Ivanishvili.
This billionaire has long been the gray eminence of Georgia, a small Caucasian country with four million inhabitants between Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Ivanishvili governs the country without any function. But now he is coming out of the shadows and running for parliament himself.
Because Ivanishvili wants to "fundamentally change the political system." By that he means the abolition of the liberal opposition, which he calls the "collective UNP". And for Ivanishvili, the UNP is considered a swear word.
The United National Movement (UNP) is the former ruling party that was ousted by Ivanishvili in the 2012 parliamentary elections with his "Georgian Dream".
The UNP is, in truth, weaker than ever. Its former leader Mikheil Saakashvili is in prison, the party split several times, but Ivanishvili still marks it as the biggest enemy of the country.
Along with her, he lists other pro-Western parties, non-governmental organizations, even President Salome Zourabishvili, since she distanced herself from him and proposed to the opposition to unite.
The "Nuremberg Process" against the opposition
Parliamentary elections must become a "Nuremberg process" for people "without a homeland" and "foreign agents", Ivanišvili said at a rally at the end of August.
He wants to implement the constitutional changes after winning the necessary two-thirds majority in the parliament.
In order to win over the mostly conservative population, Ivanishvili promises some more constitutional changes. He suggested that the Orthodox faith be declared the state religion.
High representatives of the Orthodox Church, however, are not enthusiastic about that proposal. They fear the influence of the state on a religious institution that has great power.
After that, Ivanishvili promised that he would include the Orthodox faith as a "pillar of Georgian identity" in the constitution, and he would do the same with "family values and protection of minors", as well as banning "LGBT propaganda".
Settlement with Russia?
However, Ivanishvili remained vague on one other matter related to changes to the constitution.
Thus, in the event of a peaceful re-establishment of the territorial integrity of Georgia, "the Georgian system of government and the territorial state order will be harmonized with the new reality."
This refers to the two areas that seceded with Russian help - South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The announcement that the "new reality" would be accepted has fueled speculation for months that Ivanishvili might settle with Russia.
With this, Georgia would regain control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia or enter a federation with those two areas.
In return, Georgia would allegedly have to give up the goal written in the constitution – membership in the European Union and NATO. According to a public opinion poll conducted in 2021, the majority of Georgians favored the return of the breakaway areas.
Stigma for "strange agent"
While it is unclear what he stands for when it comes to this topic, Ivanishvili shows an obsessive intent to defeat the still-strong liberal opposition.
The law on "foreign influence", which supports this, has already entered into force. Thus, all media and organizations that receive more than twenty percent of their income from abroad had to register with the Ministry of Justice.
According to the Ministry, that request was fulfilled by a small part of the existing organizations, 476 of them. According to the National Statistical Administration, more than 4.000 organizations are active.
Those who do not comply with the request for forced registration are threatened with a fine of eight thousand euros, and those who register will be rewarded with financial assistance from the government, which many non-governmental organizations reject with disgust because they want to remain independent.
The process of accession to the European Union has been stopped
Unlike the non-governmental sector, Ivanishvili and his supporters have managed to take control of important institutions in the country over the past twelve years.
According to public opinion polls, the ruling party still has the support of the majority of voters, while many opposition parties are struggling to cross the electoral threshold of five percent.
Several politicians therefore joined together despite differences of opinion. They also signed the "Charter for Georgia" proposed by President Zurabishvili. The plan is for the country to turn towards the European Union again after the elections.
The EU has frozen Georgia's accession process after accepting a "foreign influence" law.
Beyond people's interests
Ivanishvili is trying to shift the blame to Brussels and the opposition. In the pre-election campaign, he uses the symbolism of the EU, because for years the majority of the population has declared for accession to the European Union. It is questionable how credible it seems to the population.
In addition, according to public opinion polls, other things have long been more important to most people than the "European route" - wages and social conditions.
Strikes are happening more and more often. The workers of one canteen and one mine have been on strike for weeks for higher wages and better working conditions. Out of desperation, the women decided to go on a hunger strike. The miners sewed their lips together.
As in previous elections, many Georgians will be forced to sell their vote to the ruling party in order to keep their jobs, or will do so in order to receive some electoral gift.
Local and international observers are already being blamed by the ruling party for allegedly intending to provoke violence and a coup with false accusations.
The Russian secret service for foreign affairs SWR claims that the United States wants to interfere in the elections and for this use the OSCE observer mission ODIHR. Georgia has tense weeks ahead.
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