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Is the Georgian Dream the West’s nightmare?

October 27, 2024

Tasha Kheiriddin

Supporters of the Georgian Dream party wave Georgian and party flags from cars after the announcement of poll results in parliamentary elections, in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Oct. 26, 2024.

REUTERS/Zurab Javakhadze

Opposition parties in the country of Georgia are accusing the incumbent Georgian Dream of stealing Saturday’s election, calling the results “falsified” and a “constitutional coup.” While the country’s electoral commission declared Georgian Dream the winner with 54% of the vote, several exit polls predicted a win for the opposition. Three monitoring organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, citedirregularities such as vote buying, double voting, hate speech, and Russian disinformation.

The results bode poorly for Georgia’s accession to the EU: While Georgian Dream has promised a path to membership – something 80% of Georgians support – its rhetoric has grown increasingly authoritarian, anti-Western, and pro-Russia and China. The party’s founder, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, whomade his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, campaigned on keeping Georgia out of the war in Ukraine, and the party has proposed anti-LGBTQ+ laws mirroring those in Russia.

What’s next for Georgia? Pro-western opposition leadersare planning protests and a Parliamentary boycott, similar to the five-month stalemate that followed Georgia’s 2020 election, which EU mediators eventually sorted out. But that’s not likely to happen in 2024: Georgian Dream has vowed to outlaw its opponents and pro-western groups. Meanwhile, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban announced a visit to Tbilisi on Monday – another sign that authoritarianism is gaining ground.

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The biodiversity-shaped piece in the climate crisis puzzle: How to solve it

Mastercard

The clock is ticking on efforts to help halt and reverse biodiversity loss, but there’s still time to help support the animals, plants, and ecosystems that are all necessary for a healthy planet. In order to protect biodiversity — every living organism and ecosystem from microbes to mangroves — citizens, companies, and countries all need to do their part. That’s why the Mastercard-led Priceless Planet Coalition is on a mission to restore 100 million trees and regenerate biodiversity-rich forests. Read more about the Coalition's approach and progress.

Hot topics at the IMF-World Bank meetings

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Delegates at the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings have been giving rosy outlooks to the press while the cameras are rolling, but GZERO Senior Writer Matthew Kendrick heard a different story in private settings. He told Tony Maciulis that the global outlook depends heavily on US policy continuity — which is highly unlikely under a second Trump administration — and successful efforts in China to revive its own floundering economy.

Can the IMF change to help more women?

Matthew Kendrick

When a country hits rock bottom financially, the International Monetary Fund is meant to step in with funds to stabilize the economy without damaging its society — or the gender gap. But studies show that these programs often push women out of work at a disproportionate rate to men as the economy contracts. Matthew Kendrick reports from the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings on a push to build more equitable programs.

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North Korean troops move into Russia’s border area with Ukraine

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un attend a farewell ceremony before Putin's departure at an airport in Pyongyang, North Korea June 19, 2024.

Gavriil Grigorov/Reuters

Kyiv says that roughly 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, a far greater number than reported by the US, though it remains unclear precisely how many have entered what Ukraine referred to as the “combat zone.”

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Is the Georgian Dream the West’s nightmare?

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Is the Georgian Dream the West’s nightmare?

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More from GZERO Media

This week World Bank announced a bold initiative to bridge the gender divide by creating more economic opportunity, broadening female leadership, and reducing gender-based violence in the next 5 years as 2030 approaches.

There are times when we need more context, and there are times when we do not. How do we tell the difference?

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Subscribe to GZERO Media's newsletter: Signal

Kyiv says that roughly 12,000 North Korean troops are in Russia, a far greater number than reported by the US, though it remains unclear precisely how many have entered what Ukraine referred to as the “combat zone.”

Georgian Dream insists the country is still on track to join the EU, as critics accuse the party of pushing Georgia in an increasingly anti-Western, authoritarian direction.

In 2001, a Goldman Sachs economist coined an acronym for the four largest and most promising “emerging market” economies: Brazil, Russia, India, and China became known as the “BRIC” countries.

With the latest polls still showing Donald Trump and Kamala Harris neck and neck in the swing states, both candidates are heading to Texas, a far less competitive state, with hopes of reaching key voter groups nationwide.