Georgia votes in high-stakes election to determine future in EU

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00The stake is really to decide where Georgia will go now, and because we have a population

00:07since two decades that I'm living in this country which says that we want Europe,

00:11we want to go to Europe, and this is reflected in the opinion polls, like 80% of the Georgians say

00:17we want to become a member of the European Union, and we have a government which in three years,

00:22because of the pressure of Russia, says, or not says, but wants to go, goes towards Russia, back

00:29to the colonial ruler, and this is what is at stake, what will be decided. So it is about

00:36geopolitics, of course, and we observe since three years a kind of 180 degrees U-turn from Georgia,

00:46under this, the rule of Georgian dream government, which is led by the oligarch

00:50Bidzinai Venizueli, but it is also about the governance, what it will be. Georgia

00:56lives in a very democratic atmosphere since three decades. Of course, it's difficult,

01:02because it is a new republic, but it is really something like this, that it smells democracy,

01:08I would say, and what is promised by the government is a Russian rule, with

01:16crushing the freedom press, crushing the freedom of the civil society, and it is all what it is

01:22about. People look like a bit tired of the politics, because the campaign was really tense

01:28these last weeks. There was some violence, brutality against people from opposition.

01:35The ruling power is also sending a lot of mixed message. They said that they are the pro-European,

01:40in fact, while the other says that we go towards Russia. So everybody is a bit lost, a bit

01:46despaired in the opposition, but we don't know how they will mobilize. They have the idea that

01:53it is the last chance, and they really need to be mobilized today to monitor the election,

01:57to make sure that their vote will be defended.

Category

Transcript

Recommended