PM: Georgia’s ruling party aiming for “calm elections” as “polls show 60% support”

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Tuesday reaffirmed the ruling Georgian Dream party's commitment to maintaining a “peaceful electoral process” for Saturday’s Parliamentary vote, claiming the party enjoyed an approval rating of “approximately 60 percent”. 

The only thing that is in our interest is to calmly hold the elections until the end”, Kobakhidze told the press, highlighting the importance of stability amid “ongoing provocations from the radical opposition”.

In his comments, the official condemned “opposition attempts to undermine the electoral process”, pledging “no matter what kind of provocations the radical opposition plans, the state and security agencies stand in their place. I am sure that all measures will be taken to prevent any provocation”. 

Addressing specific incidents, he recounted how “opposition-led campaigns”, including a “false narrative” over alleged confiscation of identification cards from pro-opposition employees by GD officials, had “quickly fallen apart under scrutiny”. 

The top official further expressed confidence in the integrity of the upcoming elections, asserting, “the elections are absolutely fair and competitive”, while also calling attention to the “unprecedentedly calm” election environment in the country. 

He also dismissed the influence of domestic organisations “posing as independent observers”, claiming they were unable to impact the electoral process due to their “poor rating”. 

Transparency International Georgia and International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy are, for example, called domestic monitoring organisations. However, their election-related goal was confirmed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau and the court [which in September imposed electoral restrictions on them for political bias]. Therefore, they cannot be considered impartial observers”, the PM said. 

He further noted “however, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on the election process”.