Georgia will hold election amid open confrontation with West — Hasmik Meliksetyan

Georgia will hold the election for the first time amid tensions with the West, Expert on Georgia Hasmik Meliksetyan told Alpha News.

“For both the Georgian Dream Party and Georgia as a whole, the election is linked to the future of the country. The situation there is currently tense. International organizations that are conducting an observation mission or have offices say that this time the elections in Georgia will be held amid open confrontation and contradictions with the West. That is, in previous years, during parliamentary or presidential elections, there was no such tension and such negative rhetoric towards the West,” she noted.

Hasmik Meliksetyan explained the reason for such tension.

“The reason for this tension is most likely related to the Russian-Ukrainian war and Georgia’s state position on this issue, since from the very beginning of the conflict, Georgia took a neutral position and did not join the projects to impose sanctions against Russia in the international arena,” Hasmik Meliksetyan said.

According to her, if Georgia were to impose sanctions against Russia, it would have a much worse impact on the country itself than on Russia.

“Georgia believes that this position is based on its national interests. In fact, the sanctions that Georgia could apply against Russia would not have any impact on the Russian economy. Meanwhile, they could have affected Georgia itself and created problems in economic or other matters,” Hasmik Meliksetyan concluded.