Western criticism intensifies as Russia continues to voice support for Georgian Dream

As the Georgian parliamentary elections creep ever closer, Western criticism against the ruling Georgian Dream party has intensified. In response, Georgian Dream has reiterated its threats to ban opposition groups and its allegations that the US and the EU are planning a coup.

Less than three weeks before the parliamentary elections in Georgia, the ruling party has accused the US Embassy of interfering in the election process. The allegations follow a series of critical posts on the US Embassy’s Facebook account.

On Friday, the parliamentary leader of the Georgian Dream party, Mamuka Mdinaradze, urged the US Embassy to ‘regain control’ of their Facebook page from National Movement, the country’s largest opposition group. Mdinaradze’s post on Facebook was a reaction to the embassy’s daily criticism of the Georgian government this week, with the latest post reminding Georgian Dream that ‘democrats do not ban the opposition’. 

Banning the key liberal opposition groups, often referred to as the ‘collective National Movement’, has been a key pledge of the Georgian Dream party since they started actively campaigning in August.

[Read more: Georgian Dream to seek constitutional majority to ban the opposition] 

In his response, Mdinaradze reiterated the party line that there was nothing inherently anti-democratic about banning certain political parties, and that criticising Georgian Dream for this position, while overlooking similar actions allegedly taken by Ukraine and Moldova, was an example of a double standard.

Georgian Dream had previously referenced Moldova’s ban of the party founded by pro-Russian oligarch Ilan Shor and Ukraine’s decision to outlaw several Kremlin-backed parties following Russia’s invasion.

In Facebook statements issued earlier this week, the US Embassy criticised Georgian Dream for exaggerating the significance of a mistake in the parallel vote count conducted by the US-backed observer group, the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) in the previous 2020 parliamentary elections. The mistake led to accusations from Georgian Dream that ISFED were part of the efforts to organise a coup in Georgia. In another message published on Facebook, the US Embassy reiterated that Georgia would not progress while remaining ‘isolated’ from the West. 

Additionally, in an interview with RFE/RL’s Georgian service, US Ambassador Robin Dunnigan criticised Ivanishvili, accusing him of prioritising his private financial interests over those of the Georgian people.

‘The “Facebook banner war”, which is being waged by the U.S. Embassy and effectively the U.S. government against the Georgian authorities, confirms information that they are preparing a “colour revolution” in our country through their local agents’, pro-government mouthpiece Zaal Anjaparidze claimed on his Facebook page on Friday.

The EU also ramps up criticism

On Friday, EU Ambassador to Georgia Pawel Herczyński joined the chorus of criticism directed at Georgian Dream’s post-election plans, warning that Georgia would lose its opportunity to join the EU if it becomes a ‘one-party state’. 

He also revealed that back in June, the EU had internal discussions on how to approach the Georgian government’s actions, which they perceived as unfriendly towards the EU. According to Herczyński, the discussions centred on how to handle the ‘anti-Western and anti-European narratives, propaganda, and conspiracy theories’ coming from the Georgian authorities. As a result, he claimed, the EU decided to suspend any high-level contact with Georgia’s current government.

That does not include President Salome Zourabichvili, the only senior Georgian official outspokenly critical of what she has characterised as the ruling party’s obstruction of Georgia’s pro-Western ambitions. The day before Herczyński’s latest remarks, Zourabichvili was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, as part of her ongoing European tour — a trip the Georgian government has described as yet another violation of the constitution, as it was not authorised by the prime minister.

[Read more: Georgian Dream fails to impeach President Zurabishvili] 

Upon welcoming Zourabichvili at the Elysee Palace on Thursday, Macron expressed hope that the 26 October elections would ‘enable Georgia to resume its European path’.

On Friday, Georgian Dream MP Irakli Zarkua fired back at the EU Ambassador for interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs. 

‘I understand your concern and frustration that your agents may not surpass the [electoral] threshold, but this does not give you the right to interfere in the election campaign’, Zarkua warned.

The upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia will have a 5% threshold, forcing opposition groups, which Georgian Dream has labelled as ‘agents’ of foreign influence, to merge into single political parties, as electoral blocs are not permitted.

[Read more: Who’s who in Georgia’s parliamentary elections]

Amidst Georgia’s increasing international isolation, two prominent government critics, Gia Khukhashvili, a former advisor to Bidzina Ivanishvili, and former Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli, have claimed that last month, the Georgian government unsuccessfully sought a meeting with former US President and Republican contender Donald Trump — an allegation that Georgian Dream has denied. However, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze acknowledged that during his recent trip to the US, the White House disinvited him from President Joe Biden’s reception for world leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

In recent weeks, Georgian Dream has signalled that relations with the West could improve under a second Trump presidency, a claim that Ambassador Dunnigan rejected in her interview with RFE/RL.

While accusing the West of meddling in Georgia’s upcoming elections, Georgian Dream has notably refrained from directing similar accusations toward Russian officials. This includes recent statements by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), which have been widely interpreted as supportive of Georgia’s incumbent government. 

In their latest commentary, just hours before Mamuka Mdinaradze took the US Embassy to task for their criticism on Facebook on Friday, SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin repeated his claim that the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) was allegedly preparing an interim election report to declare the Georgian elections unfair. SVR had alleged last month that this report would be produced at the direction of the US Department of State.

On 3 October, during his visit to Baku, Naryshkin accused the West of ‘brazen interference’ in the Georgian elections, with the aim to weaken ‘healthy, nationally oriented forces’. He nevertheless expressed hope that the Georgian people would ‘make the right choice’ in the upcoming elections.

[Read also: Russia offers to help Georgia ‘normalise relations’ with Abkhazia and South Ossetia]