Page 11 - GEORptNov20
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2.5 Polls & Sociology
Georgian Dream said to have made outstanding comeback during pandemic
Georgia improves position in World Bank survey on governance
Georgia’s ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party holds a robust 33-38% share in the opinion polls prior to the October 31 general election, at least double the score of its main rival, the United National Movement (15-16%), while the more moderate opposition party, European Georgia, ranks as third with 4-6% of support among voters.
Many Georgian voters are yet to make up their minds.
Of the 88% of respondents who said they would be going to the polls, 59% have not yet decided who to vote for, according to a National Democratic Institute poll published on September 14. Consequently, the results of the election will mostly depend on the votes of undecided.
When deciding which candidate to vote for, the population will first take into account the party's economic policy (36% ), or health policy (12% ) or rule of law policy (12% ), the survey concluded.
The problematic point mentioned by both the US State Department and the European Parliament, namely the judiciary system, as well as the poor standard of living in the country and possible resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases of late, make the outcome of the general election more unpredictable than the polls would suggest.
Georgia has shown an improvement in the World Bank's recently updated Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) report in terms of government effectiveness and regulatory quality.
The country received 76.92% for government effectiveness and 82.69% for regulatory quality, which assesses reforms carried out by the government for the development of the private sector.
The Worldwide Governance Indicators project reports aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and territories over the period 1996–2018, for six dimensions of governance, which are: voice and accountability (53.20% for Georgia); political stability and absence of violence (29.05%); government effectiveness (76.92%); regulatory quality (82.69%); rule of law (62.02%); and control of corruption (74.04%).
The economic advisor to the Georgian PM, Beka Liluashvili, commented on the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators research, saying that in terms of controlling corruption, Georgia is a regional leader ranked among Europe’s top 20 countries for the third time in a row, ahead of such EU member states as Spain, Cyprus, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Malta, Croat, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Latvia and the Czech Republic.
“Another important indicator is the rule of law, in which Georgia is ahead of seven NATO member states, and three EU member states, and this particular indicator is based on the final assessments by 11 leading think-tanks and the US State Department. To summarise, the country’s democratic institutions are developing irreversibly, and this process will continue,” Liluashvili said.
The survey combines the views of a large number of businesses, citizens and expert survey respondents in industrial and developing countries. They are related to over 30 individual data sources produced by a variety of survey
11 GEORGIA Country Report November 2020 www.intellinews.com
