Tbilisi Voters Still Undecided Ahead of Georgian Presidential Election

TBILISI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2018) Tbilisi residents have told Sputnik there is no presidential candidate they particularly favor in the upcoming election and shared their doubts if they should go to the polls at all, given the latest changes in the electoral process.

The vote, scheduled for October 28, will be Georgia's last direct presidential election. For the following tenures, the choice will be made by a special panel consisting of 150 lawmakers and 150 regional representatives. A series of constitutional amendments, the most recent passed last year, limited the powers of the head of state and expanded the mandates of the prime minister and the parliament. The next president will remain the commander-in-chief, retain the rights to veto bills, confer citizenship and pardon prisoners, but will have to coordinate other decisions with the prime minister.

The Central Election Commission of Georgia has registered 25 candidates, with 19 being nominated by parties and the remaining six picked by initiative groups. Former Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili, opposition candidate Grigol Vashadze, Labor Party leader Shalva Natelashvili and opposition European Georgia Party head Davit Bakradze are among the contestants.

MULLING OVER WHETHER TO VOTE AT ALL

Sputnik has asked several Tbilisi residents which candidates they supported and if they were monitoring the election campaign. It turned out that almost all respondents said they would not go to the polls, because they did not know for whom to vote.

"I have discussed this issue with my family, and none of us has yet decided for whom to vote and whether we should go to the polls at all. We don't give preference to any of the candidates. Whom to support? Vashadze, who is [former Georgian President Mikheil] Misha Saakashvili's man, or Madam Zurabishvili, who apparently forgot her native Georgian language?" Vano Tatishvili, a resident of the capital, said.

Architect Rusudan Mamuladze believed that if a person did not go to the polls, his vote would be given to the candidate from the ruling party, in the current case it would be given to Zurabishvili.

"The mood about the presidential election in the country is very strange. It seems to me that a lot of people will not go to the polls, but everyone knows that non-appearance means giving your vote to Zurabishvili, who messed up her rating with weird statements about the 2008 war. Many people assume that she is Russia's candidate," the architect said, but did not answer whether she believed there was a chance Zurabishvili would start a direct dialogue with Moscow.

Brothers Beso and Vato Kharshiladze told Sputnik that the former parliament speaker, David Usupashvili, was their most favored pick, but expressed confidence that Zurabishvili would win the election.

"No one has any doubt that Zurabishvili will win, and the elections are likely to be rigged. I don't know how it is in the regions, but people in Tbilisi don't like her. Maybe she is a good diplomat, but she won't be a successful president," Beso Kharshiladze said.

His brother was sure that many Georgians would not come to the polls because the future president would have no power and no authority, so people had less interest in the vote.

"It doesn't matter who will shake hands with foreign guests. After all, this is everything that the Georgian president can do now," Vato Kharshiladze noted.

ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING

Everything in Tbilisi, including large banners, tv commercials, flyers, and writings on cars, clearly demonstrates that the campaign is at its height. The TV debates are scheduled for the end of October. For now, presidential candidates refrain from meetings with journalists and are campaigning with enthusiasm in regions. Their activities do not attract much attention in Tbilisi.

The press services of the candidates said that they would soon finish regional meetings and start campaigning in Tbilisi to share their presidential plans in detail with the residents.

Independent experts say that Zurabishvili's campaign has no equals, because the financial and administrative resources of the ruling party are totally on her side.

Candidate Vashadze has lodged a complaint with the European Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights claiming that the country's resources were fully spent on Zurabishvili.

"I informed the mission representatives about gross violations during the election campaign. We also stressed the issue of removed ads of the opposition candidates from the TV broadcasting grid, harassment by law enforcement agencies, and unequal funding resources for candidates," Vashadze told journalists.

Political expert Ramaz Sakvarelidze told Sputnik that the most important question of this election was whether people would go to the polls.

"Bad publicity of this election campaign will result in lack of sympathy for one candidate or another. Therefore, there is a great chance that turnout will be low," he said.

According to the expert, there is a chance of a second round.

"If there is a second round, the candidate from the [ruling] Georgian Dream, Zurabishvili, will win. If there is no second round, Zurabishvili will still be the winner in the first round," he noted.

The expert ruled out potential rigging citing absence of such evidence in previous elections, both general and local.