Page 7 - Small Stans and Causcasus Outlook 2022

deeply toxic and polarised political environment took the pre-existing
crisis to new levels.

The year opened in the wake of contested parliamentary elections held
in October 2020, which had seen the Georgian opposition refuse to
enter parliament as part of a boycott over irregularities in electoral
conduct. When a deal was finally reached in April, after six months of
EU mediation between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the
opposition, led by the forming ruling United National Movement (UNM),
it did not last long – and the events that would shatter this fragile
consensus were also to bring about a major degradation in relations
with Georgia’s Western partners.

The key event in Georgia in 2021 was undoubtedly the afternoon of
July 5. A planned Tbilisi Pride march, scheduled to go ahead despite
deep controversy, was met by far-right street gangs in a
counter-demonstration. When they could not find any LGBT activists
(who chose to stay home in the end), they instead assaulted media
representatives, with police looking on. When the dust settled, over 50
journalists, cameramen and others had been beaten, one of whom later
died from his injuries.

The fallout from this event saw heavy condemnation from both the US
and EU over the Georgian government’s conduct. GD refused to budge
and instead resorted to a strategy of directly insulting its partners in
Brussels and Washington, leading to the greatest rift between the two
sides in decades. At the same time, GD decided to openly flaunt the
April political agreement, stacking the Supreme Court with friendly
judges and other measures that caused the EU to withdraw a planned
tranche of funding. To date, the GD administration has still not charged
any of the perpetrators or organisers of the July 5 near-pogrom.

The political environment was thrown into even deeper crisis at the end
of September, when divisive former president Mikheil Saakashvili
suddenly returned to the country following an eight-year exile.
Saakashvili was immediately imprisoned upon charges that had been
levied against him in absentia, and promptly began a hunger strike that
would last 50 days and draw even further international condemnation
upon GD. Nevertheless, his return did not have the desired immediate
political effect: the nationwide local elections that were held two days
after his arrival resulted in GD winning all but one local race, including
in key cities such as Batumi, Kutaisi and the capital, Tbilisi.

Georgia’s political situation entering 2022, then, is much the same as it
was a year ago, only somehow worse: a polarized domestic political
environment between GD and UNM, but with open rifts with the US/EU
and a jailed former president (and current opposition leader) to boot.

Georgian Dream appears to have little inclination to soften its

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