Page 10 - GEORptFeb20

The new vote—which like all political polls in Abkhazi will not be recognised by Georgia, which says the Black Sea region is an occupied territory—will reportedly allow for the participation of both former and new candidates.
The Abkhaz opposition has been calling for the annulment of the outcome of the presidential runoff since early September. Khajimba won 47.38% of votes, while Alkhas Kvitsinia, leader of the opposition party Amtsakhara, attracted 46.19%.
Abkhazia has had de facto independence from Georgia since a war against Tbilisi in 1992-93. After Russia and Georgia fought a five-day war in August 2008, Moscow unilaterally recognised Abkhazia and another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia, as independent states.
2.6​ ​Polls & Sociology
Georgia down three places on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index
Performance of Georgia’s government and other public institutions in poll weakens further
Georgia has fallen three places on ​the 2019 edition ​of Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) to 44th of 180 assessed countries.
Its points score declined by two to 56 compared to the 2018 edition. Nevertheless, in a commentary on the performances of countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Transparency International said: “Only three countries score above the global average: Georgia (56), Belarus (45) and Montenegro (45). At the bottom of the region are Turkmenistan (19), Uzbekistan (25) and Tajikistan (25).”
In the 2017, edition Georgia placed 46th and​ ​last year the NGO warned the country faced “democratic backsliding”.
Georgia is moving in the wrong direction, according to 57% of respondents in the ​latest poll​ conducted by the National Democratic Institute (NDI).
The conclusions of the poll also indicate that the perceived performance of the country’s parliament, government and all other public institutions have constantly deteriorated over the past several years.
Only 19% of respondents said that the country was moving in the right direction, the lowest percentage seen in the past decade.
Moreover, only 30% said the government was performing well, and the number of Georgians who evaluate the government’s performance as “bad” has increased from 49% in March 2018 to 64% today.
The poll also concluded that 59% of Georgians believe their country is not a democracy, a sharp increase from the 40%-50% scores posted over the past decade (40% in April 2017).
The public’s perception of overall developments in Georgia (“country’s direction”) produced the weakest survey score in more than one decade. The previous highest result for “wrong direction” in the past 10 years was recorded in March 2016 (37%).
The survey also showed the popularity of the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream Party, billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has continued to sink. Some 39% of Georgians reported having a negative attitude towards Ivanishvili in April 2019, compared to 49% in December. Only 17% reported having a positive attitude towards Ivanishvili while 29% said they were neutral towards him.
Ivanishvili’s main political rival, former president Mikheill Saakashvili, slightly outperformed Ivanishvili in the political ratings. Thirty-nine percent of
10​ GEORGIA Country Report​ February 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com