The results of the local government election in Georgia, which, according to preliminary results, was won by the Georgian Dream, were quite predictable, as the ruling party actively used the administrative resource, the experts Petro Mamradze and Nana Devdariani said, speaking with correspondents of Vestnik Kavkaza.
The head of the Institute of Management Strategy, Petre Mamradze, stressed that the Georgian Dream's victory at the expense of administrative and financial resources was initially obvious. "Last year there was the same situation when they managed to take a constitutional majority in the parliament, having received no more than 26% of the votes," the expert said.
At the same time he drew particular attention to the absence of mass violations on the voting day.
According to Mamradze, the defeat of the opposition is explained by the fact that it has almost completely lost the people's trust with its counterproductive actions. "They do not have a charismatic leader. The process of working on the Georgian Constitution revealed that there are more than 260 parties registered in the country, but in fact there is not a single political party in the true sense of the word," he noted.
Commenting on the candidacy of ex-Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze, who according to preliminary data, won the first round of the Tbilisi mayoral election, the head of the Institute of Management Strategy explained that the politician will retain control over the energy department even being the mayor. "He is good at everything that concerns public relations, he will develop it," Petre Mamradze concluded.
The head of the Center for Global Studies, Nana Devdariani, in turn, noted that the ruling party always has a lot of opportunities to use administrative resources. "It includes also the poorest sections of the population, either they are promised material assistance, or they are warned that if they do not vote, their material help will be removed. We should not forget about amendments to the election code: they placed the ruling force in a winning position concerning other parties," the expert said.
According to her, it is possible that some of the parties that were included in the United National Movement closely cooperate with the ruling party.
"Only in six districts of 63 a second round will be held. But it is not so simple, because the turnout was low," the head of the Center for Global Studies explained.
The expert added that the presence of the remnants of the United National Movement at the second and third places are also depressing for voters. Earlier, the second place was held by UNM, now the second place is held by the UNM, its another former part is at the third place. And, of course, it creates a very negative attitude. All this leads to the fact that voters cast their vote in favor of the Georgian Dream," the political scientist said.
She also shared her opinion about what should be expected from the winner of the elections in Tbilisi, Kakha Kaladze. "Many are sympathetic to him, but on the other hand, during his tenure as minister, gas and electricity prices have risen," Nana Devdariani summed up.
