Opinion: "Georgian Dream" in despair, therefore it played the wild card of Ivanishvili
Opinion on Ivanishvili’s return
The founder of the NGO “Civil Idea” and former Georgian Defense Minister, Tina Khidasheli, said during the “360 Degrees” program that the ruling party “Georgian Dream” is in a state of desperation, which is why they brought Bidzina Ivanishvili back as their “wild card.”
The conversation focused on why Ivanishvili is running in the parliamentary elections on October 26, 2024.
Khidasheli is certain that Ivanishvili’s return to politics is only temporary (he has left twice before, in 2013 and 2021).
On September 10, “Georgian Dream” unveiled the top 20 candidates on their electoral list, with Ivanishvili, the founder and honorary chairman of the party, at the top. The list also features two Olympic champions.
Tina Khidasheli:
“They [‘Georgian Dream’] have seen the research, heard the voices on the streets, especially this spring. They know they don’t have enough support to get the 60 percent of the vote they want, and they’re struggling to even gather enough support to form a government.
They understand that no one within the party currently has the confidence or legitimacy to lead the election campaign.
It seems Ivanishvili was brought back as a ‘wild card’ to try and ease the skepticism surrounding ‘Georgian Dream’,” says Tina Khidasheli.
Hidasheli reminds that, according to the leader of the parliamentary majority, Mamuka Mdinaradze, Bidzina Ivanishvili will not hold any official position:
“In other words, he is once again misleading his voters—those who expect to benefit from Ivanishvili’s presence on the election list, and who reasonably wonder: ‘He’s on the list, but will he stay in politics or not?’ It’s quite clear that he won’t.“
According to Hidasheli, Ivanishvili’s current return to politics is temporary, and everything points to his preference to stay away from it:
“He doesn’t want to be blamed for failures, for public discontent, or to be the target of criticism. He’s avoiding this situation, which is why he left twice and will leave again.”
Opinion on Ivanishvili’s return
