Members and leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, including Honorary Chairman Bidzina Ivanishvili and incumbent Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze, are celebrating at the party’s headquarters in Ortachala after the pro-government television channel Imedi released its commissioned exit poll results from the October 4 vote.
According to the Imedi-commissioned GORBI exit poll, Georgian Dream (No. 41) led with 76.3 percent of the vote in Tbilisi, followed by Lelo – Strong Georgia (No. 9) with 7.1 percent, Girchi (No. 36) with 6.8 percent, Conservatives for Georgia with 3.3 percent, and other parties with 6.5 percent.
“This is a truly impressive victory,” Ivanishvili said to a small group of supporters, flanked by the Georgian Dream leadership, to celebrate an anticipated victory in local elections. “This is the real result – this is what Georgia deserves, what our history deserves, what our genetics deserve.”
He said, “I want to thank you, our supporters, Georgian public in general, that we are, at last, standing upright – this is the real result, what Georgia, its history, its genetics deserve.”
He stressed, “The modern way of conquest is agentura (Russian term referring to clandestine assets – ed.). With the involvement of agentura, many more states, larger and more developed than us, have lost their sovereignty.” Without naming those states, Ivanishvili said they are “being rushed towards the catastrophe by their own people, by the parts of their society.”
Georgian Dream leader claimed in what seemed like a reference to multiple conspiracy theories: “The most civilized, strongest states were brought to their knees, their economy is being destroyed, their society is being destroyed. There are horrible confrontations, mixing of the nations, and they were forced to lead a counternatural life.”
Ivanishvili went on to claim that Georgia’s society and his party’s success in resisting such forces make Georgia the envy of “all those who still retain the love for their nation in the world.”
He claimed that Georgia is the only country that “managed to drive out the agentura” from the country’s ruling in 2012, referring to the force behind the former UNM government as “the most evil.”
Meanwhile, riot police dispersed protesters on Atoneli Street near the presidential palace, using water cannons and tear gas after demonstrators attempted to breach barricades. The dispersal followed hours of unrest sparked by an opposition rally earlier in the day on Liberty Square.
Rally organizers at Liberty Square announced that they plan to head toward the Georgian Dream headquarters.
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