Georgia's general election will almost certainly generate social unrest, but the degree of political turbulence and the future of the country's foreign policy will depend on the transparency of the vote and the closeness of the results. Georgia will hold a general election on Oct. 26 to appoint the 150 members of its parliament and the next government. According to a Sept. 16 survey by American polling firm Edison Research, the ruling Georgia Dream (GD) party and its allies (such as the far-right People's Power party) will receive 34% of the vote, followed by Unity - To Save Georgia (USG), a new alliance including the country's largest opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM) of imprisoned former President Mikheil Saakashvili, with 19.2%. The Edison Research projections sharply contrasted with recent polling by pro-government pollster GORBI, which showed GD receiving 59.3% of the vote and USG receiving just 13.1%, and only...
