Page 10 - GEORptMar20

In related news, on January 13, the parliament authorised Prime Minister Valery Bganba to act as president following Khajimba’s resignation. The decision went through unanimously, with 34 lawmakers voting.
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 respondents reported a negative attitude towards him, with 26% opting to state a positive attitude.
The Georgian Dream party firmly rejected the outcome of the poll.
"We cannot trust the results of a survey that is at least 30% far from the reality," Mamuka Mdinaradze, the leader of the parliamentary majority, told reporters.
The poll results showed that Georgian Dream has the strongest public support with 19% of respondents identifying it as the party closest to them, compared to the United National Movement’s (UNM’s) 13%. They were followed by European Georgia, the Labor Party and the Alliance of Patriots with scores of
10​ GEORGIA Country Report​ March 2020 ​​www.intellinews.com