Ruling party reveals survey, predicts favourite candidate to win in first round

The Georgian Dream ruling party has provided a survey which says that  their supported independent presidential candidate Salome Zourabichvili will win the October 28 presidential elections in the first round.

The survey was conducted this month by the Tbilisi-based research centre Psychproject, on the order of the party.

 The survey was conducted between October 15 and 21. 2,200 respondents have been surveyed around Georgia and 54 per cent of the people said that they will vote for the ruling party’s supported independent presidential candidate Salome Zourabichvili,” Georgian Dream representative Mamuka Mdinaradze said today and added that the Georgian Dream has been cooperating with the research centre since 2012 and its surveys are “very reliable.”

He stated that the presidential candidate of  10 opposition parties, Grigol Vashadze, received the support of 11 per cent of voters, while the nominee of the European Georgia opposition party David Bakradze received 10 per cent.

He said that 42 per cent of those surveyed have not yet decided whom to vote on Sunday.

The opposition-minded Rustavi 2 private broadcaster also released the outcomes of a survey conducted by American Edison Research, on the order of the TV channel.

The survey reads that Vashadze received 37 per cent of votes, Zourabichvili- 32 per cent and Bakradze-16 per cent.

The survey was conducted between 15 and 24 October.

Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze stated today that Zourabichvili, former foreign minister of Georgia born in France, has the “absolute support” of the Georgian Dream.

He said that the party is unanimous in that supporting the candidate is the “absolutely right decision and if there are several exceptions in the team who have a different view my statement is for them about complete support.”

Bakhtadze stated that the decision to support Zourabichvili was prompted by two main reasons.

“Firstly, the president should be unbiased, with no close connections to a political party to ensure balance between the state institutions. Secondly, the president should have European values and play his/her role in the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration,” Bakhtadze said.