Georgia is in an existential fight

Georgia is defined by its fight for survival. Lying in the shadow of Russia, Turkey and Iran, it has navigated – not always successfully – between the great powers for centuries, longing for freedom. 

The 26 October parliamentary elections were billed as the latest existential chapter in this centuries-old struggle – a choice between returning to the West or sliding further into Russia’s orbit. Instead, it became yet another interlude to Georgia’s political crisis, with high-stakes actors in Moscow, Brussels, and Washington watching on as both sides apparently pull their punches, waiting for one another to make the first mistake. 

Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire Georgian Dream founder widely seen as the de facto ruler of the country, claims his party won with 53.9 per cent of the vote. Meanwhile, the opposition – spanning pro-European, reform-minded parties – promptly declared the elections ‘stolen’, pointing to ballot-stuffing, vote buying, and an atmosphere thick with Soviet-style coercion.