Georgia election: Scandal and intrigue split voters

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Georgia election: Scandal and intrigue split voters

The former Soviet state of Georgia will hold fiercely contested parliamentary elections on Monday. For the first time since coming to power in 2004, President Mikhail Saakashvili's fervently pro-Western government risks being ousted - by a billionaire tycoon, suspected of having close links to the Kremlin, who wants to re-establish relations with Russia.

Most of the people standing behind the stalls here scrape by on a few dollars a day, selling fruit and vegetables. They see Georgia's richest man - the billionaire opposition leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, as their saviour - and the possibility of renewed trade links with Russia as an economic lifeline.

"He's a good man," says Ilia Makharadze, a 47-year-old market trader. "He will open borders with Russia, and Georgians will be able to travel there again. We don't need America."

"No-one in my family has work," says 57-year-old Tamar Jandgashvili. "I buy a basket of plums. And then come here to this market to try and sell some. Is this a life?"

More than half of the country's population has no proper job. Older and poorer Georgians, in particular, are struggling in a neo-liberal economy seen as cut-throat and Americanised. Some say life was better as part of the Soviet Union.

Fear of the past
On the other side of town, President Mikheil Saakashvili holds a glitzy Washington-style rally in a packed sports stadium.

With the coloured balloons, flashing lights and exuberant cheers, it is hard to imagine that just a decade ago Georgia was almost a failed state, still reeling from the civil wars of the 1990s after the collapse of the USSR.

His supporters shudder when they think of the time before President Saakashvili took control. He was tough on crime, made the streets safe and got the lights working again.

People at this rally are convinced things will unravel if the elections are won by the opposition coalition.

'Test of fire'
In a speech to the UN on Tuesday, President Saakashvili accused Moscow of wanting "Georgia off the map". In an apparent reference to Mr Ivanishvili's fortune, he talked about "dirty money from the north" in Russia, destabilising Georgian democracy.

Until last week, President Saakashvili's ruling party was consistently ahead in most polls by about 20%.

But now a scandal is undermining that support.

Videos broadcast on national television last week show prison inmates being beaten and sexually abused by guards. It has been dubbed Georgia's Abu Ghraib, and has outraged voters.

Thousands have been taking to the streets to express their disgust. Public pressure has forced two ministers to resign.

The government's tough approach to crime was arguably what saved Georgia from a state of crime-ridden chaos. Until 2003 organised crime bosses, known as thieves-in-law, ruled supreme.

But it seems the crackdown has tipped over, at least in the prison service, into abuse of power. And undermined the government's credibility.

Source: BBC News - Georgia election: Scandal and intrigue split voters