Page 11 - GEORptOct19

over the past week has come as a serious blow to the opposition, while being a huge success for Georgian Dream.
“I want to declare that I’m not going to go anywhere—I will finish you,” Gakharia told opposition lawmakers.
Gakharia, “Moscow's man” or “Ivanishvili's last stooge” as​ ​described​ by a piece run by Deutsche Welle, or “Russian-educated former interior minister” as he was​ ​dubbed​ ​on a more neutral note by Reuters, earned notoriety lately by orchestrating a violent crackdown against anti-government protesters, many of them youths, in June. Instead of dismissing him, head of the ruling party and billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has appointed him to form a new, stronger government and secure another term in office for his Georgian Dream. It is losing voter support but faces a general election next year. And perhaps dismissing Gakharia would indeed have been interpreted as a sign of weakness—something Ivanishvili cannot afford one year before the poll.
“Gakharia will be Ivanishvili's last stooge in a prime minister's seat,” Nika Melia, an opposition leader of the United National Movement (UNM) party, agreed, speaking to Agence-France Presse news agency.
2.7​ ​Polls & Sociology
Public’s perception of direction Georgia is taking most negative in almost a decade
The Georgian public’s perception of the direction their country is taking is at its most negative since 2010, according to a survey commissioned by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) from its local partner Caucasus Resource Research Centers.
The number of respondents who said that they thought Georgia was going in the wrong direction increased to 49% in the survey, conducted between July 13 and July 29, from 38% in December 2018. A total of 18% of respondents said they believed Georgia was moving in the right direction. That marked a 7pp decrease compared to the survey at the end of last year. Those who perceived no change amounted to 30% of respondents.
“I have a reason not to trust the NDI surveys, especially the political part,” mayor of capital city Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze ​told reporters​ ​when discussing the results. Kaladze, a top politician in ruling party Georgian Dream, is one of the most trusted politicians in Georgia, according to the survey.
Other politicians blamed NDI’s local partner for the portrayed sentiment, with the results coming as Georgia approaches the general election year of 2020.
“I would like to reiterate our respect for institutions such as NDI, IRI and other such institutions. However, unfortunately, over the years we have been able to see that their Georgian partners conducting these surveys do not always accurately reflect the real sentiments on the ground,”​ ​said​ ​Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili.
But it is perceptions of a disappointing performance of the country’s government and not bias from the polling agency that may well be at the root of the high “wrong direction” score indicated. The strong correlation between the exchange rate and the “wrong direction” score supports such a hypothesis.
According to the survey, the number of citizens who are dissatisfied with the
11​ GEORGIA Country Report​ October 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com