On 26 October 2024, Georgia will hold general elections in which the pro-Moscow ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party will seek a fourth term in office. In coalition with a far-right party, People’s Power, a split from GD, the ruling party targets particularly the democratic opposition, the United National Movement (UNM), promising to ban it if it wins the election.
Georgian Dream restricted freedoms in Georgia, introduced Russia-inspired laws against NGOs, isolating the country from the EU and pushing it in the yard of the Kremlin. DG, acting as a one-party state, imprisoned its enemies and persecuted opposition and independent media.
As a result of the vast disinformation campaign implemented by the government-controlled media, polls indicate a large electoral victory for the pro-Moscow camp.
UNM, the largest opposition party, was founded and led for many years by the former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been in prison for years on charges of abuse of power. Human rights organisations called for his release on medical grounds as his health deteriorated in prison.
In a statement reminiscent of the Soviet era, the ruling party accused the UNM of instigating the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and aiming to open a second front in the current Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to the statement, GD is prepared to pursue a legal process to declare the United National Movement and all its affiliate or successor parties unconstitutional if it secures a constitutional majority.
However, even without a constitutional majority, the next government can petition the Constitutional Court to ban a party whose objective is to overthrow or violently alter Georgia’s constitutional order, violate the country’s independence and territorial integrity, or promote war or violence.
In addition to targeting the UNM, Georgia Dream has announced plans to enact a law similar to those in Russia that limits LGBTQ+ rights, despite warnings from the European Union and human rights organisations.
GD also intends to change the constitution about Georgia’s territorial integrity, raising concerns that it is prepared to make concessions to Russia. Last year, Russia threatened to annex Georgia’s separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which are currently occupied by Russian forces.
