Georgia: ruling party beats out opposition in pre-parliamentary election polls

If parliamentary elections were to be held in Georgia tomorrow, the ruling Georgian Dream party would win 33% of the vote, a public opinion poll conducted by the American International Republican Institute (IRI) says. 

The United National Movement is the most popular among the opposition parties, garnering 16% of the respondents’ votes. This is the party of former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who now holds an influential post in the Ukrainian government, but is still a wanted man in Georgia.

The two next most popular opposition parties each received only 5% of the vote — European Georgia and New Georgia.

The Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, which has a reputation as a nationalist party, is polling at 3%.

A rather large number of respondents (17%) were undecided. 11% refused to answer.

Mutual enmity between supporters of the ruling party and the leading opposition party

The long-standing conflict between the supporters of the ruling Georgian Dream Party and the leading opposition party, the United National Movement, remains largely irreconcilable.

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29% of the respondents said they would not vote for the National Movement in any way, and 25% of the respondents said the same about the ruling party.

The most popular and most unpopular figures in Georgia

Patriarch Ilia II enjoys the highest authority among the Georgian population, with an 89% approval rating.

Only 6% of the respondents have a negative attitude towards the patriarch,

The patriarch is followed by the head of the National Center for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze, who has a 74% confidence rate among respondents. Apparently, this is due to the fact that Georgia is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic with relatively small losses: 1,278 cases and 17 deaths as of August 12.

The third and fourth most popular are Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia (63%) and Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze (57%).

Georgia’s shadow leader, oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the head of the ruling party, received 41%.

President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili got 32%.

Opposition leader Irakli Okruashvili, the ex-defense minister who was recently released from prison under amnesty, polled at 30%.

Other survey results:

Most of the respondents spoke positively about the army – 89%, the patriarchy – 85%, and media – 71%.

62% felt positively about the police, and 33% negatively.

On other important issues, opinions are almost equally divided.

50% are satisfied with the government, 46% are dissatisfied.

The educational system has a 49% approval and 45% disapproval rate.

46% responded positively about the parliament, 51% negatively.

64% of respondents consider the country’s main, unsolvable problem to be a weak economy.