[Caucasian horn sound] GIORGI VASHADZE So I love it. I love meeting people. Politics is not only words. Politics is not only message. Politics is not only strategies. It's kind of like emotions. This is kind of chemistry, which is… which we are exchanging with people HOST (VICTOR SWEZEY) I’m sitting on a campaign bus rolling down a highway in rural Georgia. Next to me is Giorgi Vashadze, an opposition party leader. He’s a born politician, the kind of guy who looks most comfortable kissing babies. His coalition hasn’t held power in over a decade. But they used to be a big deal here. [Talking in the background: Gaumarjos, gaumarjos, National Movement, National Movement] HOST We all get out of the bus and start making our way down the street — a gaggle of party staffers, press, and locals who just seem to be along for the ride. Vashadze takes point, greeting potential voters with an energy that is genuinely impressive. [Laughing] I follow the opposition leader into a little supermarket, where a single cashier sits behind the register with a couple of kids in her lap. He shakes her hand, buys a pack of gum, and gives her his party’s pitch about why Georgia should join the European Union. And then he does something that kind of shocks me. Just as he’s on the way out, he turns back, pulls some bills out of his pocket, and slips them across the counter. You just left them a little… GIORGI That shouldn’t be recorded. HOST It’s a 15 lari bribe — about six bucks. It’s not much — but it’s a stark contrast to what this opposition party was supposed to stand for. My name is Victor Swezey. You’re listening to, “The Land in Between,” a five-part podcast about a pivotal moment in Georgia’s history, and what it tells us about the future of our world order. This is episode 2: “Election.” To understand why this particular politician bribing a cashier at a corner store matters, I have to take you back a couple decades. To 2003, when a peaceful revolution changed Georgia forever. The situation at the time was bleak. Powerful mafia groups ran their rackets from inside the government. Bribes were required just to access basic public services. People only had electricity for a few hours a day. When Georgia’s president — a former Soviet official named Eduard Shevardnadze — tried to rig an election, it was the last straw. MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI IN NEWS CLIP IN 2003 The main thing is to show to the president our resolve. We are peaceful, but we are resolute to keep up the fight for our freedom. HOST That’s Mikheil Saakashvili — the leader of the opposition at the time. He’s tall, charismatic — the kind of politician the West loves. With help from some American-funded NGOs, he led a protest movement calling for a re-run of the elections. NEWSCLIP [Chanting] HOST After a month of escalating demonstrations, Saakashvili burst into parliament holding a rose — a symbol of his peaceful revolution. The president resigned soon afterward. NEWS CLIP “Misha! Misha!” MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI IN NEWS CLIP IN 2003 Not a shot was fired, not a single shot. People overwhelmed, and really, really removed the government by peaceful means. That’s classics, you know, really European. HOST It was the first so-called “Color Revolution” — nonviolent protest movements across the post-Soviet world aiming to bring down autocratic governments. And with it came a remarkable transformation. MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI IN NEWS CLIP IN 2012 We fired the entire police force in one day. HOST Saakashvili overhauled the police from the ground up. The streets became safer. For many Georgians, the lights turned back on. MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI IN NEWS CLIP IN 2012 The entire customs office, the entire tax service. During first year, half of our existing bureaucracy and civil service… HOST Foreign investment flooded in. MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI IN NEWS CLIP IN 2016 Taxes went down 60%, the budget grew up 11 times. HOST The mobsters and corrupt bureaucrats were thrown in jail. But the victory didn’t last. For all the democratic rhetoric, Saakashvili governed like a dictator. Police raided TV stations and arrested civilians. The state extorted businesses and coerced voters. It would all culminate in a horrifying scandal that would finally take Saakashvili down. NEWSREADER Georgian riot police have clashed with hundreds of protesters calling for the resignation of President Mikheil Saakashvili. HOST Over a decade later, Saakashvili’s National Movement party is still around, but it’s a shell of its former self. It doesn’t have many new ideas anymore — just the old patronage networks, and a promise that if elected, it will bring Georgia into the EU. Giorgi Vashadze, the politician I’m on the campaign trail with, was a high-ranking bureaucrat in the justice department during the worst of Saakashvili’s crackdowns. GIORGI VASHADZE [Speech in Georgian language] HOST We hit a couple more towns together in the campaign bus, and then Vashadze says we have one last stop. It’s a meeting with some local teachers. FOREIGN CAMPAIGN WORKER Are we taking our stuff on the bus? UNM STAFFER Yes, take it. HOST So we get off the bus? We’re out of the campaign bus, and into a private car. GIORGI VASHADZE This is special meeting with teachers. HOST I don’t see any teachers — just a long, white table, and pitcher after pitcher of wine. I ask when the teachers are coming, and everybody chuckles. There are no teachers. There have been rumours that the governing party is planting spies on the opposition’s campaign bus. The teacher meeting is a ruse to shake off the hangers-on. The core group, which for some reason includes me, will be sharing a supra — a traditional Georgian feast. Course after course begins to arrive at the table: pickles, steaming Georgian soup dumplings called khinkali, roasted lamb, pork and chicken kebab. GIORGI Wow wow wow wow wow. This is something really good. HOST It looks amazing. The most important element of a supra, by far, is the drinking. A tamada, or toastmaster, takes the lead. [Glasses clink and toasts in Georgian language] They propose one toast after another to God or family, success or the motherland, before opening up the floor. [Toasts in Georgian language continue] TOASTMASTER A toast to unity. HOST I sit with my microphone in my lap as we go around the table, raising our glasses to democracy and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, who now sits in prison, convicted of abuse of power. I feel myself getting a little tipsy and slow down on the amber wine, filling up only halfway or sipping instead of draining my glass after each toast. It’s not great form, but I reckon it would be even worse to get wasted in front of the leaders of the country’s largest opposition party. The toasts end, and then it’s finally time for Turkish tea and dessert. [Candy wrapper scrunch, plates clink] HOST It had been easy to let myself get caught up in Vashadze’s charisma, and the ritual of the supra. But as we pile into the car and rumble back up the highway to Tbilisi, the capital, I can’t help thinking that the leaders of the opposition seem a little complacent. Besides the National Movement, there are three other major parties, each with their own small slice of the pie. They’re led by longtime politicians and rich businessmen, who agree on most issues. Most importantly, bringing Georgia into the EU. Their egos are just too big to join forces. So they run four separate campaigns — primarily against the ruling party, Georgian Dream — but against each other, too. Georgian Dream has managed to hold onto the biggest piece of the pie by promising stability — in an increasingly chaotic region, and world. That’s come to include what they consider traditional Georgian values. NEWSREADER In a controversial move, Georgia has approved a law curbing the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE They should not have the right to demonstrate and organize parades or marches, to just wage propaganda in schools and preschool institutions, or kindergartens, because this runs counter to the Georgian values. HOST Zaal Anjaparidze is a political analyst and a prolific online commentator. As Georgian Dream has turned against the West, he has too. Do you have any other… it’s just LGBT and judges? Are there any other values that you think are different? ZAAL The planting kind of liberal values… HOST If you live almost anywhere in the West, you’ve probably heard this kind of rhetoric before. From Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán: NEWSREADER The liberals betrayed freedom. What the liberals are doing? They would like to say that “LMBTQ” is a compulsory value. HOST Or US President Donald Trump: US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IN 2019 The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. HOST This is the direction Georgian Dream has been moving — toward the far-right populism cropping up across Europe and the Americas. Yet the stakes are higher than immigration or Christian values. According to the Georgian Dream party, this election is a matter of war and peace. NEWSREADER 1 This is what Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed on Ukraine [Sounds of explosions] as the sun came up this morning. HOST Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has been a profound trauma for Georgian society. Ukraine, too, is a land in between — the name itself comes from a Slavic word meaning “borderland.” And many Georgians see it as a brother republic, with a parallel history of colonization dating back to the Russian Empire. For them, an attack on Ukraine is an attack on Georgia. NEWSREADER 1 Around 30,000 people rallied in the former Soviet nation, Georgia. Demonstrators filled the capital’s thoroughfare chanting slogans and waving flags of both Ukraine and Georgia. NEWSREADER 2 These men are preparing for battle in Eastern Ukraine, and they’ve traveled a long way to get here. They’re volunteers from Georgia who serve in a unit called the Georgian Legion. HOST But Georgian Dream sees things differently. Here’s Anjaparidze again: ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE Georgian Dream says that we are pro-European. We are pro-Western. But please understand this correctly: We have to take care for our country and avoid the conflict. People in the West hardly understand this approach. They believe that Georgia should sacrifice itself because Georgia should do more in order to deserve the accession to the European family. HOST As the campaign ramped up, Georgian Dream party leader Bidzina Ivanishvili began spreading a conspiracy theory. He said there was a shadowy entity trying to destroy Georgia. BIDZINA IVANISHVILI SPEECH IN 2024 IN GEORGIAN LANGUAGE HOST Speaking at Georgian Dream headquarters, he said they needed an overwhelming victory to root out the influence of something he called the “global war party,” which he said was trying to drag Georgia into the war in Ukraine. According to Bidzina, this secretive cabal of elites holds sway over the EU and NATO, the US-led military alliance founded during the Cold War to counter the Soviet Union. Russia sees NATO as a threat — an invitation for the US to put missiles in its backyard. Most Georgians want their country to join NATO. Like any good conspiracy theory, there is a grain of truth at the heart of the “global war party” narrative. Georgia’s bid to join NATO was a major factor in convincing Putin to invade in 2008. And NATO’s own interventions from Afghanistan to Libya make it clear that the US and its allies have no qualms about starting wars when it serves their geopolitical interest. The ones who pay the price are always those in the lands in between. Now you know who’s on the ballot and what’s at stake. Let me take you to election day. The truth is, I’ve been wondering whether any of it will matter: the parties, the campaigns, the posters. From what I hear, the ruling party has an arsenal of tactics to rig, manipulate, or falsify the election. IRINA MAMULASHVILI Long-term observers are updating us with violations that might be vote buying. HOST That’s Irina Mamulashvili. She worked for a Georgian election watchdog at the time. IRINA This happens. Not only ruling party is involved in this, but also opposition parties. HOST Georgian politics is not exactly a clean business. But there’s a fundamental difference between the opposition handing out crumbs on the campaign trail and Georgian Dream politicizing every aspect of the country’s welfare state. Nana Kruashvili is the head of election monitoring at the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, another major NGO. NANA KRUASHVILI That is also projects like social projects, infrastructural projects, renovation of parks and roads and stuff like that, which usually starts way before the elections, but somehow ends up to be finished or delivered very close to elections. HOST And, of course, Georgian Dream isn’t afraid to deal with opponents the old-fashioned way. NANA We have identified a lot of the violence in the political scene against opposition parties. HOST Here’s Giorgi Gakharia, a former Georgian Dream prime minister who now leads an opposition party. GIORGI GAKHARIA The violence is a fact. There was physical attack on several of our members and leaders. HOST While Georgian Dream has publicly denied allegations of irregularities, reports from EU election observers note incidents of “coercion, intimidation and violence.” Yet in the days leading up to the election, people seem to be embracing a sort of cautious optimism. They know the playing field isn’t level, but they’re hoping that enough people turning out to vote could still deliver them a victory. Election day starts off smoothly enough. I visit a polling station and then wander into Cafe Gallery, one of Tbilisi’s oldest techno clubs. Another pre-election party seems to be in its final stages. [Techno music palys] Alright, so, there are 8 people dancing, there’s a bartender, the DJ looks pretty active. I go back out into the sunlight and check my phone — and I see some troubling videos. In one from an opposition TV station, a reporter approaches a pair of green-vested election workers inside a polling station. They’re huddled together, counting a wad of bills. The reporter shows them a couple of crumpled white papers, asking if they’re lists of food to give to voters. The election workers panic, and the scene dissolves into a shouting match. Another video from a suburb of Tbilisi shows a group of young men chasing down an election observer and beating him in an alley. [Shouting] The most shocking is an incident from Marneuli — a town not far from where we stopped on the campaign bus. A Georgian Dream party staffer approaches a ballot box and violently stuffs in a handful of ballots. The green-vested poll workers look on helplessly. The incidents seem isolated, but they’re adding up. There are thousands of election observers at polling stations across the country, international NGOs and local volunteers. But how do you take all those independent data points and turn them into one clear verdict on the legitimacy of the election? At what specific point does fraud make an election illegitimate? It’s 6 in the evening — polls close in two hours. I walk back down Rustaveli Avenue — Tbilisi’s main drag — which seems to be holding its breath. Right in the middle of the block is Georgian Dream’s downtown field office. It’s almost impossible to interview high-level members of the ruling party, especially for Western journalists, but I’m sort of killing time at this point, so I decide to give it a try. I approach some young guys hanging out by the door and ask if there’s anyone I could have a quick interview with. They say to wait a minute — they’ll see what they can do. A couple minutes later I’m greeted by a middle-aged man. So, tell me a little bit about… are you… are you part of the party here? Or are you just… BEKA ODISHARIA I am member of parliament. I am chairperson of the committee of diaspora and Caucasus issues. HOST What’s your name? BEKA Beka Odisharia. HOST Okay. He’s wearing a black baseball cap from a German ski wear maker, thick-framed black glasses, a black polo with the collar turned up, a black leather jacket, and black sneakers. Expensive — and meant to look like it. He is… confident. BEKA We will win, I can assure you. I think as a minimum we will get some 95 seats from the 1-5-0. HOST Do you think there’s any chance that the opposition could win more than 50 percent of the vote? BEKA I can assure you, zero chance. HOST Obviously, in an election, you know, anything can happen. [Car honking] If the opposition did win more than 50 percent, would Georgian Dream… ? BEKA It is zero chance. HOST Obviously it’s not zero. BEKA This scenario is… I can’t… HOST If it happened, would the Georgian Dream be willing to transfer power? BEKA Absolutely. This is impossible, impossible. So we are not thinking about this. So, it is absolutely impossible. It is zero chance. HOST There’s a line between confidence and disregard for the basic rules of a democracy. This Georgian Dream MP has definitely crossed it. Can you repeat that one more time, please? GARY O’SHEA Okay, listen. Okay, right. So… HOST Just before 8 p.m., I get a call from a source, with a couple of unreleased exit poll results. GARY Coalition majority with more than 50 percent of the popular vote. GARY GD on approximately 40 percent of the popular vote. HOST This exit poll would suggest that they’ve done it. The opposition has won the election. At four campaign headquarters across the city, the four opposition parties declare victory. People post their celebrations to social media. [Cheering and clapping] No votes have been counted yet. [Chanting and clapping] I head to one of their offices. The room is thronged with reporters — mostly from Georgian TV news. If the exit polls are to be believed, this is something truly monumental: proof that an untouchable oligarch can be beaten. C4C POLITICIAN NIKA GVARAMIA That’s a great victory. I’m very happy, I’m very happy. So that’s… Russian-kind regime and Russian-backed regime of Georgian Dream is finally ended. So everything is ahead. European Union. And we will be there. So we will start even tomorrow some negotiations, we open negotiation process. HOST But it all feels a little premature, a little too easy. These are just exit polls. And indeed, there’s a wrinkle. A third exit poll by a smaller, less reputable firm predicts Georgian Dream winning — by a hefty margin. And across town at Georgian Dream headquarters, Bidzina Ivanishvili declares victory. [Bidzina Ivanishvili Speech in Georgian Language and cheering and clapping] HOST For a couple of hours, suspended in time and space, everyone is a winner. Then the official results start to roll in. Georgian Dream’s vote tally ticks up and up. In the final count, they’ve taken around 54 percent of the vote. But in some parts of the country — especially in the rural areas — their numbers are through the roof: 75, 80, 90 percent. Pretty soon, opposition leaders are on TV again, denouncing the results as rigged. TINA BOKUCHAVA IN NEWS CLIP IN 2024 We are convinced, and we are certain that this is due to election fraud, and therefore Unity-National Movement does not accept these falsified election results. HOST At around 9:45, some international news outlets start calling the election for Georgian Dream. NEWSREADER 1 The pro-Russian Georgian Dream party looks to have won parliamentary elections seen as crucial for the former Soviet republic's future. HOST Others question whether the vote was valid to begin with. NEWSREADER 2 The trouble is, in this election there are alternative facts — at least, alternative exit polls. NEWSREADER 3 Moving toward political turmoil with the ruling party declaring victory in parliamentary elections which have been decried by the opposition as falsified. But people aren’t taking to the streets. The party office is a haze of secondhand smoke. People slump on chairs and couches, dejected. VOLUNTEER 1 My expectations were very high. So because of my expectations, I feel very low right now. VOLUNTEER 2 I don't have any emotions anymore. It's funny to me now, everything is like, I'm hysterically laughing all day today, because everything is so unfair that I can't even take it seriously. I can't believe this is actually, has been, has been happening for 12 years now. HOST And are you planning to take to the streets, based on the way things are going? VOLUNTEER 2 We're planning to do anything to change the results. We're planning to do everything for our country, to go to Europe, to be a part of European Union, and to get back to our roots, where we belong, and to go back to democracy. VOLUNTEER 3 There’s no other choice than to fight. I hope it’s peaceful. I hope we find a peaceful way to resolve this. But if Bidzina does what he promised to say, I wouldn't be surprised if police literally started shooting in the street. HOST Since I arrived in Georgia a month ago, I’d been counting down to this election as a decisive moment, one that would give me a sense of where Georgia — and maybe the entire Western world — were heading. But now it’s increasingly clear that Georgia’s future won’t be won at the ballot box. Not while the country’s richest man holds all the cards. Coming up next time on The Land in Between, the origin story of the man in the glass castle. NEWSREADER Billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili is the next prime minister of Georgia. DATO PARULAVA A lot of people that you speak to will tell you he's not pro-Russian, he's not pro-Western, he's just pro himself. HELENA BEDWELL Bidzina won't stop until he destroys you, like completely, until you crumble. HOST “The Land in Between” was produced, reported, and written by me, Victor Swezey. It’s a production of the Global Reporting Centre. Our editors were Andrea Crossan and Britney Dennison. Music by Irakli Margishvili. Translator and production assistant: Sandro Gudiashvili. Fact-checking by Sharon Nadeem. Digital support by Andrew Munroe. Credit song is Mdevari, by Skazz. Art by Mariam Katcharava. Special thanks to the Soviet Past Research Laboratory and the Fulbright Program for making this project possible.