As Georgia approaches pivotal parliamentary elections, the country’s opposition parties stand at a crucial juncture. In recent months, the ruling Georgian Dream party has turned sharply away from its 2021 promise of bringing the country towards the European Union, with critics suggesting it doesn’t want to risk upsetting relations with Russia as Ukraine did.
In May, the government passed Russian-style legislation that will see Western-backed media organisations and NGOs branded ‘foreign agents’. This led the EU to stop the country’s accession process amid fears the law will be used to crack down on civil society groups.
The strategy that the opposition parties find in response to this anti-Western turn could determine not just their own political futures, but the trajectory of Georgian democracy itself.
