Georgia stands at a crossroads between EU and Russia in pivotal, tense election

euronews (in English)

Georgia's parliamentary elections have been framed as an existential moment for democracy by activists who want to see the pro-Russian Georgian Dream ousted from power.

Transcript

00:00Millions of Georgians are set to head to the polls on Saturday for the first time the country's

00:08elections are held in a fully proportional system.

00:13The ruling Georgian Dream Party has been in power for three terms.

00:20They will face four main opposition parties who have all said they would refuse to enter

00:26into a coalition with the ruling Georgian Dream.

00:31The party has come under controversy for the so-called Foreign Agents Bill, which critics

00:36say mimics legislation that has been passed in neighbouring Russia.

00:43They have done this extreme anti-Western turn in order, I think, to try and stay in power,

00:52to reduce democracy in Georgia, in order to reduce checks and balances.

00:59It's a position which obviously alienates the West and Georgia's Western friends, gets

01:05them a bit closer to Russia, and also closer to some other illiberal governments around

01:12the world.

01:13They're particularly close to the Hungary of Viktor Orban.

01:19Recently, Georgia has passed legislation banning same-sex marriage and adoption for same-sex

01:25couples, a move that activists say brings the country closer to Russia.

01:31Basically, their activities, the passing, adopting of the legislation are very pro-Kremlin.

01:39So they do not openly say that Georgia comes closer to Russia, but all their actions, all

01:44the legislative work basically does it.

01:47So this is their strategy.

01:49Now, Russia is engaged and basically interferes into the internal politics through this government,

01:55so it doesn't have to show up more strongly.

01:59Georgia received European Union candidate status of December last year, which was frozen

02:05in June after European Union leaders declared that Georgia's anti-democratic actions threatened

02:11the country's European integration.

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