Georgian election: Stark choice for Georgians seeking future as part of Europe

Georgians know all about Russia’s wars. Several years before Russia invaded Ukraine, its army launched a five-day war in August 2008. The city of Gori was bombed and occupied, and a fierce battle further north in Shindisi left the station destroyed and the railway abandoned.

So when the country’s four opposition groups label Saturday’s pivotal election as a choice between Russia or Europe, their aim is to end 12 years of rule by the governing Georgian Dream party, who they accuse of drifting back into Russia’s orbit.

They want to revive Georgia’s stalled bid to join the European Union.

“In these streets we had Russians,” says Mindia Goderdzishvili, running the campaign in Gori for opposition group Coalition for Change. “People here have this in their memories and the government uses this in a bad way, playing on their emotions because they want to stay in power.”