Presidential Candidates

Op-Ed

Although the future Head of State won’t have the right to interfere with political processes and their function will be limited to a “handshake,” the presidency still seems quite popular among Georgian politicians. Perhaps that’s why more names of those aiming for the presidency are being discussed in the media, with a few new names added to the list of potential candidates.

The list of candidates from Georgian Dream has been enriched with the active and former Foreign Affairs Ministers Mikheil Janelidze and Salome Zurabishvili, respectively. And former Defense Minister Irakli Alasania has been added to the independent candidates’ cohort. Neither party’s frontline has been left intact, as we saw updates there, too. For instance, it has been rumored that former Parliamentary Speaker David Usupashvili will also take part in the autumn’s marathon. There are changes in the European subdivision of the United National Movement, where MP David Bakradze is being prepared for the vacant post instead of MP Giga Bokeria. Only the United National Movement is keeping their candidate’s name a secret. Apparently, they haven’t agreed on whether to sacrifice the former Foreign Affairs Minister Grigol Vashadze for presidency or not. The situation hasn’t changed in the pro-Russian camp though, where the ex-Speaker of the Parliament Nino Burjanadze is getting ready for the elections.

The most prominent of these headliners would have been the issue as to whether current President Giorgi Margvelashvili would participate in the elections or not, but as usual, the latter has disappointed the media; at this point, experts can only speculate. Clearly, though, Mr. Margvelashvili is getting prepared for some battles.

The draft law initiated by the government is obviously related to suppressing his presidential ambitions, as it forbids officials from criticizing future court decisions. To put it simply, if Margvelashvili criticizes decisions issued by court, as for instance he did when the court ruling was issued against Saakashvili, he will be violating the law. It is also becoming apparent that President Margvelashvili is trying to maintain his “above-party” image, suggesting that if he still decides to participate in the elections, most likely he will do so as an independent candidate.

However, the chances the current President has to gain victory in these elections is another theme, since former Tbilisi Majoral candidate Aleko Elisashvili is already considered a recognized leader in the very same segment of voters. The candidate of the “ordinary people” scored second in the local elections and surpassed the candidate from the UNM. It is difficult to foresee whether Margvelashvili will be able to become the candidate for the “ordinary people,” because he, as well as the people, are very well aware of the fact that the future president won’t be able to protect the “ordinary people” anymore. That is most likely why political analysts advise him “not to carry the burden of the politician for a second time and not to plunge into the same river again.” True, it will be quite difficult for Margvelashvili to win the elections for a second time, especially that we now know, unlike five years ago, that billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili won’t be on his side anymore. Despite such a “depressing” loss, polls show that Margvelashvili was still able to maintain high levels of trust and support among people. The question is whether this trust will be sufficient for him to gain victory in the upcoming elections.

But even before that, Margvelashvili will have to neutralize the main hazard that the governing party is threatening him with by making “edits in the Girgvliani case.” These things might make it uncomfortable for the current President to take part in the coming elections, but the political processes could bring about such circumstances that despite what the experts forecast, winning the Presidential elections could be his one and only foreseeable chance for survival.

Zaza Jgarkava