Why Democracy Demands Democrats Need to Win...and Win Big

The "other Georgia" shows us why

About 12 years ago, I went on a reporting trip to the Republic of Georgia. The former Soviet republic had recently suffered the loss of about 20% of its territory in a brief war with Russia, but there was nonetheless a pervasive spirit of hope and optimism that brighter days were ahead.

Many of the top-ranking government officials I met were relatively young—in their thirties and forties—and therefore less tainted by the rampant corruption that plagued the previous generation of government officials. They were determined to chart a new course for Georgia that was decidedly liberal in values. European Union and NATO flags flew outside government buildings, a very visible signal of this generation’s Western aspirations.

But something happened along the way. The once-liberal government is now drawing ever closer to Russia. Democratic backsliding is accelerating. One man, the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune during the collapse of the Soviet Union, has been able to nudge the country ever closer to Russia and, along the way, erode democratic guardrails. His personal wealth accounts for about 25% of Georgia’s entire GDP. He’s known in some circles as “The Man Who Bought a Country” and formed a political party to protect his interests, Georgian Dream, which he believes is better served by cozying up to Putin than aspiring to join the European Union.

Georgian Dream has been the dominant political party in Georgia for over a decade. But poll after poll suggests that a vast majority of Georgians are far more inclined toward the European Union and the West than toward Putin’s Russia. That’s why, when Georgians went to the polls last week in parliamentary elections, the stakes were extraordinarily high—both in terms of the geopolitical competition between Russia and the West and for the future of democracy in Georgia.

What happened in those elections on October 26 should be read as a warning to those of us in the United States. Georgia shows us that in the context of electoral backsliding, a party committed to democratic values can’t expect to win a close election.

What the Republic of Georgia’s Elections Tells Us about the Future of American Democracy

On the Global Dispatches podcast today, I focus on the political situation in the Republic of Georgia and the October 26 elections. I interviewed journalist Andres Ilves, Regional Director for the Near East and Eastern Europe for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, from his office in Tbilisi, Georgia. He explains why the official results can’t really be trusted and are unlikely to be an accurate representation of the voters’ will. (The episode is freely available across all podcast listening platforms).

I timed the release of this episode deliberately for the day before the U.S. elections because what happened in the Republic of Georgia is a foreseeable consequence of democratic backsliding—the idea that the guardrails of democracy are weakened to serve the interests of a single man or a single party.

Georgia shows us that in the context of electoral backsliding, a party committed to democratic values can’t expect to win a close election. To win, they need to win big.