A Day of Silence

According to the constitution and legislation, the day before elections has been declared as a day of silence. It means that there is no election propaganda on that day, no PR, no promotion, no debates, no political ads. Theoretically, it is the day when voters should calmly think over the candidates they are going to vote for. They should evaluate their choices and make final decisions based on careful consideration.

What is the mechanism that encourages Georgians to vote for a certain candidate? It should be stressed that the election programmes of different parties participating in the elections are too similar.

Analysts state that all the programmes released by the participants are highlighting social welfare problems, they all promise the same. In general, slogans are simple: they concern jobs, insurance, healthcare, working places, followed by some other values like freedom of speech and expression, the respect of human rights, and of course peace in the country.

If one looks into the programme of any party not knowing whom does it belong, one can hardly distinguish one party programme from another. Promises, promises and promises, hopes, hopes and hopes, dreams, dreams and dreams. Most of the parties repeat Georgia’s claims to integrate to the Euro-Atlantic space. Even those parties who do not share values verbally support the aspiration. As, if one says today that Georgia should strive to the Eurasian Union initiated by Russia, he would certainly fail. So, once again, how do Georgians make their choice? Such a question is never properly answered.

I have a neighbor who voted for the Georgian Dream coalition half a year ago. Now, he openly expresses his dissatisfaction towards the current government. “There are still economic problems in the country, less income. Somebody’s car has been stolen… the coalition’s promise to restore justice has not been fulfilled yet,” he says.

He can not just guess what has been destroyed during the last nine years under the UNM’s being in office that it cannot be restored in a year and a half, or even in a three or four years term. Unfortunately, the UNM party practiced a system distractions and violations. They created a threat of fundamental values, like freedom of expression and, thus, it is difficult to resolve systemic downfalls in a short period. However, Georgians are in a hurry, demanding swift changes, as they are hungry today, their children need education today, they are ill today and one can understand the reason of being in a hurry.

The current government should consider the errors made by the previous rulers of the country. They should not make the same mistakes. They should not lose time for meaningless disputes and petty little things. Georgians are very thoughtful, they always make the right decision finally, they are tolerant, but this tolerance has its limits. Most of the voters already know whom they will vote for on Sunday.

So, let us keep silent on Saturday and make the right decision on Sunday.