The political crisis in Georgia

In the last days of October, the Georgian Dream (GD) government inspired and undertook a series of actions directed against Georgia’s largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM), a grouping of politicians from the camp of the former President Mikheil Saakashvili. The most important of these actions include: the publication of material compromising the previous ruling team; organised attacks on UNM offices by groups linked to the authorities; an investigation into the opposition’s alleged preparation of a coup; and a series of confrontational statements by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili. The conflict over the UNM-linked Rustavi-2 television station, which the government is trying to take control over, has also worsened. At the same time, an intensification of friction between President Giorgi Margvelashvili and the prime minister and informal leader of GD, the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has become apparent. The US, the OSCE and the EU, among others, have expressed concern about the developments in Georgia.