Even under the USSR, the remarkable Georgian people have always had a special entrepreneurial spirit. Nothing has changed in the years that have passed since then
To put it mildly, the good economic situation in the republic has made many people learn to make money practically at everything, even in elections.
One illustrative example of business in Georgian electoral technology is the history of NGOs: Caucasian development solution, created by a certain Lasha Beridze.
Most recently, on 31 October, the next elections to the Republican Parliament were held in Georgia. The opposition, which lost and is therefore dissatisfied with the results, accuses the authorities of mass falsifications. Even the traditional protests in such cases have reached some cities in Georgia. And on November 21, the 2nd round of voting was held in 17 districts.
According to the results of the last elections, the ruling party “Georgian Dream” won with 48% of votes, and the largest opposition party of the former president of Georgia Mikhail Saakashvili “United National Movement” received 27%.
Tensions are rising in society, and Western partners, represented by the United States of course, pretend not to notice anything and recognize the first round of voting as having taken place. Already on November 2, Deputy Spokesman for the US State Department Cale Brown said that he supports the position of observers of the OSCE mission, that the parliamentary elections in Georgia on October 31 “were competitive, and fundamental rights were respected, it is only necessary to eliminate the violations identified.”
Everyone who observes the picture from the outside understands that the elections were held the way they were supposed to be.
But there is one small problem: the State Department makes its conclusions about the Georgian elections on the basis of information received from various sources, the most important of which is the system of NGOs created and generously sponsored by the Americans themselves. They send observers to the field, monitor “through binoculars”, conduct social studies and surveys.
The results of these “studies”, which are compiled into reports, are later brought to the tables of very serious people in high offices in Washington. No less serious, and sometimes even fateful, decisions are made based on these data.
Budgets for NPOs are very decent. And where there is more money with weak reporting, there will certainly be those who decide to take advantage of the situation for their profit. Individual, not the most, let’s say, clean Georgian citizens, who feel a good profile, cannot afford to be left out of this attraction of unheard generosity.
Our “hero” Lasha Beridze was also one such enterprising citizen. Not thinking for long, he created an NGO under the fashionable and stylish name “Caucasian development solution”, and hurried to take an active part in “social” work.
Lasha did not invent anything new, taking advantage of the standard set of “grant-a-public”: he held some trainings, inviting participants from other cities, and even paying them for their accommodation for their, or rather, American taxpayers’ invoices, “drew” beautiful reports for sponsors, and, naturally, put cash allocated for all this rapid activity in his pocket.
It is clear that the value of such reports is insignificant, but what is saddening is that Beridze’s example is not unique, such an approach to business is not even hidden in the local public gatherings, but on the contrary, it protrudes itself. Look at how enterprising I am, raising “lava” on an empty spot.
Numerous public opinion polls and other surveys are being conducted in Georgia in the same way. The results that the customer initially likes are simply drawn up. Almost all Georgian NGOs work according to the principle: “The main thing is for the customer to be satisfied”.
As a result, during the elections in Georgia, the non-profit sector sponsored by the State Department prepares a large amount of analytical material for it, which is often small, corresponds to reality, and even, a little less than completely distorts it. As a matter of fact, NGOs are openly engaged in “grantmaking” and fraud.
It is difficult to say whether this is good for Georgia, but Georgian public figures are grateful to their country for each new electoral cycle. Pleasant cooperation with foreign, primarily American, customers provides invaluable assistance in building private houses and buying beautiful cars with local grants.
If anyone in the current situation can be called a victim, it’s the American State Department, which needs to think very carefully whether they can make decisions based on the research of their “sponsored” partners – social activists.
As for Georgian politicians, in the opinion of local political scientists, they will inevitably have to come to an agreement.
“The opposition will probably sit down at the negotiating table. The other question is which of these we will get. Neither side will refuse to negotiate, but if the opposition first sets conditions and claims that if they are not met, nobody will agree to the conversation. Negotiations are necessary in order, first, to identify topics for conversation, and then to start discussing issues where a compromise can be reached”, – analyst Vakhtang Dzabiradze said in a conversation with Sputnik Georgia, adding that Georgia’s international partners (ambassadors of Germany, the European Union, France and the United States) will probably have to help the “disputants” in finding a compromise solution.