The fight in Georgia is mainly between the current authorities and Mikheil Saakashvili’s party — Johnny Melikyan

Protests broke out in Tbilisi and the provinces of Georgia against the founder and honorary chair of the ruling Georgian Dream Party, Bidzina Ivanishvili. Speaking at an election campaign in Gori, Ivanishvili said that after the parliamentary election, “all those who provoke war will be condemned,” and Georgia will find the strength to apologize to Ossetians for the 2008 military conflict unleashed by former President Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement party. Alpha News talked to Johnny Melikyan, an expert on Georgia, on this topic.

“Since the most important parliamentary election will be held in Georgia in a few weeks, all statements and actions fully fit into the process of the election campaign, and we must also consider such statements from this perspective. The perspective is as follows: both in 2011-2012 and today, the internal political landscape in Georgia has changed little, and the fight is mainly between the current authorities and the party of Mikheil Saakashvili. Other political forces have also joined the fight, but the factor of the 2008 war and all statements are aimed at Saakashvili and should harm him,” Melikyan said.

However, according to the expert, there are also certain external elements that should be paid attention to.

“Abkhazia and South Ossetia, despite being recognized by Russia, periodically experience problems with the Russian side. Statements are periodically made from South Ossetia that South and North Ossetia should unite. All this shows that in some future scenario, Moscow still foresees that someday the idea of a single state will work, and these two republics will unite into a single state with Georgia.

But today, at this stage, we must say that all these statements are aimed at Saakashvili and his team. There is the other side of the coin as well. There are risks that some people perceived all this as weakness or proof that there is a secret connection between the authorities and Russia, which may alienate citizens and force them to choose either Saakashvili or some other party,” Melikyan concluded.