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enlargement and 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 Call for Alliance of Patriots of Georgia to be barred
from general election amid claims of Kremlin funding
Opposition parties in Georgia have demanded that the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia be barred from running in the October parliamentary election following t he release of an investigation by the Dossier Center, which tracks the criminal activities associated with the Kremlin, agenda.ge reported on August 25.
The investigation was said to have revealed that the Kremlin financially supports politicians Irma Inashvili and David Tarkhan-Mouravi, who are set to lead the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia in the election, scheduled for October 31.
The Dossier Center quoted the secretary of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) General Vladimir Chernov, who heads the Russian president's department for interregional and cultural relations with foreign countries.
Elene Khostharia, one of the leaders of the opposition European Georgia party and the majoritarian candidate for the Vake district of Tbilisi, has reportedly even submitted a statement to the General Prosecutor's Office of Georgia regarding the Kremlin’s financing of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia.
Inashvili was reported as denying the allegations, claiming that former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili and Giga Bokeria—currently one of the leaders of European Georgia and a former member of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM)— ordered the investigation be given to the Dossier Center.
The Dossier Center writes that the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia requested more than $8mn from the Vladimir Putin administration of.
6 GEORGIA Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com
