Georgian Parliament official: Georgian Dream party enjoys strong public backing

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian Parliament, on Tuesday highlighted what he described as the ruling Georgian Dream party’s strong level of public support in Georgia.

In an interview with the Georgian Public Broadcaster, Samkharadze said support for the Georgian Dream had increased since last year’s parliamentary elections.

He also argued that the opposition’s ratings reflected what he described as a deepening crisis within opposition parties.

“Research results show that the government enjoys quite solid support within the Georgian public. I believe that support for Georgian Dream has increased even further since the elections”, Samkharadze said.

“The opposition’s ratings reflect the disastrous situation within the opposition itself. All of this was to be expected. When one does everything to dismantle state institutions, refuse to recognise election results, resort to street violence, and call on foreign countries to sanction your own state, naturally, their ratings plummet toward the abyss, and that is a good thing”, he added.

The comments came after users on social media shared a slide displaying results from a survey by the International Republican Institute (IRI), according to which the ruling Georgian Dream party received 36% support in party ratings, while the opposition United National Movement received 5%.