Majority Georgians Remain Undecided Few Months Prior to Local Elections
Recent poll results from the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and CRRC Georgia, which were presented on July 27, revealed that most Georgians do not know who to vote for few months prior to October parliamentary elections.
In particular, 62 percent of respondents said they are undecided which party to vote for. Of those few citizens with an opinion, 23 percent select Georgian Dream (GD), 9 percent United National Movement (UNM), 4 percent for both European Georgia (EG) and the Alliance of Patriots and 3 percent for Labor Party.
For the Tbilisi mayoral race, 30 percent support GD candidate Kakha Kaladze, 19 percent independent candidate Aleko Elisashvili, 18 percent UNM’s Zaal Udumashvili, 5 percent EG’s Helene Khostaria, and 3 percent to the Labor Party candidate.
“With the campaign yet to begin and such a small number of decided voters, these poll numbers cannot possibly predict future outcomes, but rather serve as indication that the playing field is still wide open and unpredictable,” Laura Thornton, NDI Senior Director stated.
Also, 59 percent of respondents believe that former Prime Minister and establisher of GD party Bidzina Ivanishvili remains a decision-maker in the country, while 19 percent think Ivanishvili is no longer a decision-maker after his resignation.
The poll results also show that Georgians give mixed assessments on the country’s state of democracy, although freedom of speech, free and fair elections, protection of human rights receive net positive evaluations at 51 percent, 35 percent, and 36 percent, respectively. One-third of citizens reported a positive condition of the rule of low; less than one third of respondents also reported a positive condition of citizen participation in public life, curbing corruption, and government responding to citizen concerns.
Furthermore, Georgians report that bribing, harassment, and misuse of the state budget are the biggest barriers to free and fair elections, although most believe the Central Election Commission (CEC) will perform average (47 percent) or well (29 percent). Georgians are divided on whether it is important to have a balanced representation of male and female candidates in the upcoming election, and believe that increasing the number of women Sakrebulo members would have either a positive impact (43 percent) or no impact (42 percent).
The results reflect data collected from June 18 to July 9, through face-to-face interviews with a nationwide representative sample of Georgia’s adult population, excluding occupied territories, that included 2,261 completed interviews.NDI’s survey work is funded with UK aid from the British people and carried out by the CRRC Georgia.
The UNM Mayoral candidate says the survey proved that there are a lot of problems in the country.
“The survey also shows that the rating of the ruling party is falling down, because they are unable to solve the existing problems in the country,” Udumashvili stated.
European Georgia candidate Elene Khoshtaria says that the society is not satisfied with the current situation in the country.
“Most of them are undecided and the politicians should do their best to solve the problems of these people,” she added.
Independent mayoral candidate, Aleko Elisashvili claims that the run-offs are inevitable in Tbilisi. He believes that on the background of falling rating of GD, the opposition candidates have good chances in mayoral elections.
Thea Morrison