“Never have I ever been on a party ticket” – if they play that game in the Georgian Dream political council, Bidzina Ivanishvili has to finally take his drink. On September 10, the ruling party presented the first 20 strongmen (well, mostly men and five women) set to enter parliament, and Honorary Chair Ivanishvili was – duly – at the top of the list. Ivanishvili, who despises public (politics) and admires exotic flora, preferred to hold back in the previous elections—2012, 2016, or 2020. What does his exceptional step mean? Did he decide to embark on parliamentary work, flex the nerves of steel, and make laws?
…and other hilarious jokes that were debated on Georgian talk-shows this week.
In this week’s Talk On Air, Gigi tells you what the opposition-leaning media has suggested about Bidzina Ivanishvili’s wild card…and how the opposition plans to triumph over it.
First was the reaction
In Georgian talk shows, before politicians speak, journalists weigh in. The veteran fixture of the Georgian TV landscape, Inga Grigolia, prefaced her talk show “Reaction” on critical TV Pirveli by asserting that Ivanishvili, on top of the party list, signals that “Georgian Dream fears losing the elections.” She pointed out that the Honorary Chair only engages in public politics when his party faces a crisis of public confidence. Referring to the polls that put the ruling party at around 25 percent (far from the 60% they ask the voters for), the host concluded that GD had no other way but to play the trump card. Consequently, since the undefeated leader can’t lose the election race now for fear of losing face, Grigolia also suggested GD will stubbornly resist accepting defeat.
With her theory, the host dominated the show, leaving little room for the guests to contribute beyond echoing her. They promptly obliged and then switched to praising their parties and wholesale bashing of the GD regime.
But if you’re skeptical, consider this: “Sometimes a deity has to show itself,” declared UNM’s Gigi Ugulava, whose past as an altar boy gives him a flair for sacred analogies. “This [Bidzina Ivanishvili] is their god, Mammon, isn’t he? And they’ve introduced a faction of dead baobabs. To Bidzina, they’re just zoo animals.” You’re free to keep watching if you like… I tuned out at this point.
Under normal circumstances, Ivanishvili would be challenged by the media to explain himself. Especially in his earlier interview, he argued that returning would mean admitting the failure to manage his party. But that is not going to happen. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze already said mere mortals “are not even worth Ivanishvili’s fingernail” and can’t challenge this giant of a man in a live debate.
Then there were the thoughts of ex-Dreamers
Since Ivanishvili won’t appear anywhere where he’d be asked real questions and Imedi TV may only fawn upon his greatness, the other critical media went for the closest thing, inviting ex-GD politicians with personal knowledge of top man’s ego and modus operandi to discern the meaning behind the action.
Appearing on Mtavari TV’s “Guest of the Day” on September 11, Gia Khukhashvili, a political expert and former confidante, said Ivanishvili is eyeing parliamentary immunity for himself as a political maneuver. He’s bound to enter the parliament even if the GD loses, argued Khukhashvili, and thus will be shielded by immunity no matter what. Once inside, Ivanishvili will try to bribe opposition MPs and form a coalition that would protect his personal interests in the post-election period.
“To me, it was very sad to see that scene where Bidzina Ivanishvili put his last resource […] – himself – on the line,” Eka Beselia, once a close ally and one of the former GD leaders, told the host of TV Pirveli’s “Public Policy” show on September 11. She said that Ivanishvili engaging in public politics means no credible face is left in the GD. She noted that Ivanishvili would likely withdraw from the race if he saw imminent defeat. Still, Beselia also suggested that Ivanishvili would try to bribe the opposition.
Beselia, an opposition figure close to President Salome Zurabishvili, strongly advocated for the President’s Georgian Charter, a unifying document around the European idea for the opposition. She said to decrease the chances of being the “weak link” of the opposition after the polls, opposition MPs should also pledge their commitment to the Charter individually.
Weakest link – Strongest link ?
Ivanishvili’s former allies fretted about a scenario in which the GD loses and accepts the election results, but ultimately Ivanishvili keeps control by bribing that “weak link” in the opposition. Some opposition figures have vowed never to form a coalition with the GD, but suspicions weigh on others —particularly former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, now the charismatic leader of the opposition For Georgia party, which is likely attract disenchanted GD voters.
Remember Inga, the host of Reaction? Or was it Irma, Diana or Dea?…No, it was Inga, sorry Inga, don’t be offended. INGA Grigolia, with more than two decades in Georgian journalism, was so often misnamed on the air by Giorgi Gakharia during September 12 broadcast of “Reaction”, that it seemed like a fiendish ploy to disorient her. But more importantly, the journalists struggled to grasp Gakharia’s political logic, who firmly rejected allying with either Ivanishvili’s GD or Saakashvili’s UNM, while leaving “every other option on the table.”
Trapped in the usual Georgian political dichotomy (like many Georgians) , Grigolia couldn’t comprehend what that “other” option may have been. She circled back to the same question four times, trying to get her guest to fit into her “either GD or UNM” logic, but in the end Inga (not Irma) found herself at the dead end of Gakharia’s repeated stubborn answer: NONE OF THEM!
Gakharia made one thing clear to Inga (not Diana): “If my votes are decisive, then I will be decisive in the government. PERIOD. Mind it.”
What comes after October 26 ?
The opposition talk-show consensus seems to be that the GD had no credible choice but to put Ivanishvili at the top of the ticket. And while the guests (and hosts) believe the voters are too angry to be easily bribed, they are less sure about the opposition politicians.
One thing is certain: the upcoming election won’t end on 26 October – it’s likely to continue well beyond that, to test the resolve of the citizens, as well as the the commitment of the opposition to stand up to The Billionaire MP’s money, power, and (scraps of) glory.