Page 13 - GEORptAug19

Poll shows Georgia’s opposition parties would win parliamentary elections if held now
Jobs, poverty top Georgians’ agenda
health insurance, who will pay for transport, how much they will be paid, the minimum salary, etcetera. We have communicated with several companies who are ready to select 3,000-10,000 people according to relevant criteria next year for seasonal employment ", Khokrishvili added.
Georgia’s main opposition parties United National Movement (UNM) and European Georgia would win 29% of the vote in parliamentary elections if they were held now, 3pp more than ruling party Georgian Dream headed by Bidzina Ivanishvili, according to a poll conducted by the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) Center for Insights in Survey Research from May 20 to June 11 and quoted by ipn.ge.
Nonetheless, 55% of respondents declined to give an answer on their favoured party for government. The survey has an error margin of 2.5pp.
UNM, the party of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, was only 4pp behind Georgian Dream in the poll. The more moderate European Georgia was third with electoral support of 7%.
Other parties were recorded as enjoying very modest support but they would likely gain MPs under the no-threshold model for proportional representation proposed by the government for the parliamentary elections next year. Their results were: Alliance of Patriots - 5%; the Labor Party – 5%; the Public Movement - 2%; the Democratic Movement- United Georgia - 2%; the Movement for Building – 2 %; Girchi – 1 %; others – 1 %. Some 22% of people that provided an answer conceded they had made no final decision yet.
Under the zero-threshold model, a party actually needs the votes of 0.67% of the electorate to appoint an MP.
Finding a job is ranked by 51% of Georgians as among their top three issues, followed by poverty (32%) and rising prices (28%), with all three major concerns demonstrating households’ poor economic conditions, according to a US National Democratic Institute (NDI) poll carried out in December.
Support for Georgia taking Nato and EU membership remains robust, but the issue of joining the bloc is seen as rather unimportant, the survey also concluded. Nato membership was mentioned among the top issues by only 4% of respondents, while European Union membership ranked even lower at 2%.
Territorial integrity was seen as a much more important problem, regarded by 24% of respondents as a key issue, given that Georgia has breakaway territories that are defended by Russian armed forces.
Notably, issues related to democracy were mentioned by rather few respondents. Only 4% saw problems related to the court system, although 8% wanted a revamp of the judiciary. Primary concerns related to poverty were the pressing matters.
Some 83% of respondents supported Georgia's integration into the EU, with 9% against. As for Nato, 78% supported membership while 13% did not.
The majority of those responding to the opinion poll said the judiciary was developing in the wrong direction. A total of 30% said there had been no
13 GEORGIA Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com