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neighbourhood partners, aimed to help them limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. For Georgia's €150mn programme, policy conditions relate to strengthening public finance management, improving governance, sector reforms and labour market policies.
On the political front,​ an​ o​ pinion poll on Georgia’s forthcoming October general election shows that the ruling Georgian Dream party will receive 52% of votes. ​The poll, which surveyed 1,200 people around the country between July 15 and July 24, put Georgian Dream’s main rival, the United National Movement (UNM), at 19%. UNM’s most likely ally, European Georgia, would get 8% if the poll results were borne out. The other particularly relevant parties are Alliance of Patriots (5%), Lelo (5%) and New Georgia (4%). The other parties altogether received the combined support of 7%.
Per the constitutional amendments passed earlier this month, an election bloc or party which receives less than 40.54% of votes in the proportional elections will not be able to form a government.
2.0​ ​Politics
2.1​ ​Georgia’s ruling GD says it can handle pandemic,
exchange rate and win election
Georgia’s ruling party Georgian Dream (GD) faces having to deal with a handful of hot potatoes at the same time: the rising number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country and a weakening local currency, plus foreign observers’ concerns with the electoral process—and it must successfully negotiate these challenges to remain in office beyond the October 31 general election.
The incumbent GD is thus now being forced into a delicate balancing act, Eurasianet has ​commented​.
“Georgian voters’ patience and wallets are wearing thin because of the strict measures that the government put in place to slow the virus’s spread, but at the same time the softening of those restrictions has allowed a coronavirus wave to roll across Georgia,” according to the publication.
Former Minister of Interior Giorgi Gakharia, appointed by GD’s head Bidzina Ivanishvili in June 2019 to settle the social unrest that ignited weeks of street protests, has eventually had to deal with a totally different set of problems: firstly, the tensions with foreign investors (Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) and Frontera Resources), then the pandemic and finally its effects: the exchange rate fluctuations.
He says the situation is manageable.
According to Gakharia, the pandemic will not hamper the upcoming poll and the main thing is to follow recommendations.
Also according to the PM, citizens should learn to live with the virus.
"The pandemic will not hamper the elections. We’ve always said there would be a second wave, we’ve always said we had to follow the elementary rules.
6​ GEORGIA Country Report ​October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com