The President: Reduced to a Handshake

Op-Ed

The presidential elections will take place this autumn. There’s quite some time before the main political event of the country, but the preparations have already begun. The current President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, is a good example, whose public messages clearly speak of his future plans. Presidential ambitions can be read in the rhetoric of the current Prime Minister, too, not to mention the oppositional parties, where every leader is getting ready to be the future presidential candidate. It’s obvious that an intense and passionate political autumn is on the horizon. However, the main intrigue of the marathon this time won’t be who the future president will be, but why there will be one at all.

It can be said for sure that the new president will definitely be the last one elected by general public vote as, in 2023, the next president will be elected by the 300-strong “Voters Assembly.” According to that same constitution, the president doesn’t even have the function of an honorary notary. The position is to be completely deprived of any political content and all that is left for the role is merely a “handshake.”

At first glance, it seems strange. Why would any active politician want to become a “handshaker”? But if we look more closely, we should consider the fact that this year’s elections will take place before the parliamentary elections of 2020. Hence, in reality, the presidential elections gain a deeper meaning, as they can be regarded as an attempt for a future alternative to the Georgian Dream as well as a demonstration of the “turning point” for the country. It is safe to say that the parliamentary elections of 2023 will be won by the party which is best able to “put through” their candidate for the presidency now – regardless of how symbolic that post is in reality. If the Georgian Dream loses these elections, this will be the beginning of their inevitable end!

It is easier to guess what the current President, Prime Minister and various party leaders are preparing for. Now the main issue is who’ll be with whom and why? I’m sure you’ll agree that Mr. Margvelashvili will cease to be the Georgian Dream candidate. After refusing Mikheil Saakashvili’s pardon, he will be the candidate “above” the party. In the most extreme case, he will agree to be the candidate of a coalition of pro-Western parties, but not that of the United National Movement or European Georgia. At the other extreme, there will be Aleko Elisashvili as the “people’s” candidate. And like the last attempt for the Major’s post, he will try to run independently, as a representative of “ordinary people.”

Although, society has become tired of political parties and politicians, it is still not to such an extent as to give Elisashvili a serious chance, or even a chance to repeat the success he attained during the last elections, when he, completely deservedly, came second place. That happened because, in the eyes of the masses, the Major of Tbilisi is rated by a more “utilitarian” and “working” criteria. Therefore, the candidate is also ‘different”, while the traditional “image” or “notion” of president is quite different, for which Aleko isn’t “good enough.”

Who the governmental candidate will be is also very interesting. Who will be chosen by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili? We saw that Margvelashvili didn’t manage to fulfill the expectations of the informal “head of the country,” therefore, the new candidate will be chosen with more caution. The current Prime Minister would make a wonderful “handshaker,” but, following the unforgettable incident of public swearing in Parliament, his candidacy has undergone “inflation”. Maybe that is why he categorically denied being a future presidential candidate. Minister of Healthcare, Mr. Sergeenko, is rumored as an alternative, who is also categorically denying his participation in the marathon, but if we take into consideration the typical ways of the government, Ivanishvili might still decide on one of these two.

As for the main oppositional party, the United National Movement, they do not have grounds to complain as they have completely different problems in not knowing who their candidate will be, and all this will become clearer once the current processes taking place in Ukraine come to an end.

Zaza Jgarkava