The Georgian government held a mass demonstration partly to claim that its supporters can outnumber protesters, a well-established tactic in Georgia’s political playbook.
Before it took power seven years ago, the Georgian Dream party asked citizens to put their wishes for the country in a box. Now, as the party is girding for critical elections, Eurasianet peeks inside.
Georgia’s behind-the-scenes ruler has made his most extensive comments to date on Georgia’s ongoing political crisis, also indulging in long digressions into psychoanalysis and motherhood.
“In Georgia, people used to go to demonstrations organized by politicians. What we achieved is that now politicians come to the demonstrations organized by people.”
Thousands of protesters attempted to shut down parliament after the government promised and then reneged on electoral reform. Police removed the demonstrators, but the political crisis seems far from finished.
Georgians again took to the streets after the government backed down on a promise to reform an election system that gives a big leg up to the ruling party.
Over the past two decades, the president’s office has instituted at least six ad hoc commissions to defuse some kind of political impasse. The latest is not off to an auspicious start.