The difference between these elections is that in the last three decades of Georgia's independence, there has never been a government so hostile to the West, - former US Ambassador to Georgia, William Courtney, said in a speech at a panel organized by the American Enterprises Institute on Georgian parliamentary elections.
"In the post-Soviet space, when governments are in power for too long, they may start out as reformists, as Putin was, and then backslide. It happened with Shevardnadze, it happened with Saakashvili, and now it happened with "Georgian Dream". So the real problem is the lack of government change and power that is so essential to democracy. The difference between these elections is that in the last three decades of Georgia's independence, there has never been a government so hostile to the West, which has taken such an anti-democratic, more pro-Russian and less friendly course towards the West, as this government has done," said William Courtney.
During his speech, the former US ambassador to Georgia also spoke about the possible reaction of the West after the parliamentary elections.
"Not so long ago, we thought that Georgia and Ukraine were on the parallel path of joining the European Union and implementing democratic reforms. Despite the stress caused by the war, Ukraine maintained its democracy, while Georgia, on the other hand, moved in a different direction without such stress. So, we in the West will have to watch the elections, how they will be conducted, because in the past we have had mixed reactions to election fraud. So, for example, in 2020, in relation to Belarus, we introduced light sanctions, and in relation to Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, which also did not have completely fair elections, there were no sanctions. But in 2004, during the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine, when Yanukovych was elected, after the first two rounds, which were not free and fair, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that we do not consider these elections to be legitimate. So, will we see the West's reaction to the October 26 election, which is more like Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, or more like the Orange Revolution. A lot depends on the Georgians themselves, on how much falsification there was, whether people will take to the streets, as it happened during the Orange Revolution, when it was rejected. It will depend on what Europe will do, because Europe is more important than us, Georgians want to be part of Europe, not part of the United States of America. So we're looking at all these factors," William Courtney noted.
