The disinformation landscape in Georgia has seen a significant shift in recent years. What began with fringe social media pages has evolved into more coordinated social media campaigns, television spots, videos and a higher level of sophistication and resources dedicated to creating and disseminating disinformation. Notably, the ruling party and the government, which previously refrained from directly spreading anti-Western propaganda narratives, have now become the primary source of disinformation in the country. This article will delve into the main propaganda narratives spread by the ruling party in the lead-up to Georgia’s 2024 parliamentary elections, a period many stakeholders consider crucial.

The upcoming election is often characterised as a referendum, but the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and the opposition view it from different angles. For the opposition, it is a choice between the EU and Russia, reflectingthe ruling party’s actions that led to the de facto halt of Georgia’s EU accession process and a perceived foreign policy shift towards Russia (and China). In contrast, the ruling party portrays the election as a referendum between “war and peace,” resonating with its propaganda narratives (in detail below) and positioning itself as a party of peace.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite applying forEU membership, the ruling party has increasingly resorted to spreading anti-Western propaganda narratives. Even though such messages date back before 2022, the ruling party officials were much more constrained in attacking the West (the EU and the US) and most of the propaganda messages were not such straightforward. However, now the government officials, including the PM, MPs, including the Speaker of the Parliament and other Georgian Dream officials, are bluntly spreading anti-Western propaganda as a daily routine. This was also emphad in the 2023 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy where the European Commission underlined a specific strand of disinformation that attempted to imply that the West seeks to open a “second front” against Russia from Georgia. Recently, on 21 October, the EU Foreign and Security Policy Lead Spokesperson, Peter Stano, also stated that Georgian authorities “started to use disinformation against the European Union” and that “there is no dedicated EU mission helping Georgia to increase its resilience to fight foreign interference and disinformation, because unfortunately in this case the disinformation comes also from the official side, from the governing authorities.”

Whilst commenting on the strained relations with the West, the GD’s official line is that the West is responsible for the deterioration of relations and the ruling party is unable to fix them due to being under the influence of the “Global War Party” whilst the GD is seeking a “reset of relations” with the US and the EU. The GD claims that they have already taken steps for rapprochement and now it is up to the collective West (the EU and the US) to make similar steps such as stopping revolution attempts in Georgia.

Main Conspiracy Theory – “Global War Party” and the “Second Front”

The Georgian Dream has turned the discussion from the crucial security challenges facing Georgia into what the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O'Brien, called a “Reddit”-style conspiracy theory – a mysterious “Global War Party.” This started as a disinformation message but has then snowballed into a comprehensive long-term propaganda campaign and an issue that dictates government policy. The head of Georgia’sState Security Service also tried to help the ruling Georgian Dream party to add legitimacy to the “Global War Party” conspiracy theory and claimed that it indeed exists as a grouping of influential people who try to stir up conflicts and open the “second front” although it may not be officially registered as a party. Others from the GD further “clarified” that it is a grouping of influential people like “freemasons” or “structures” like a “deep state.” Bidzina Ivanishvili (billionaire founder and honorary chairman of the GD, ex-PM and the GD’s leading candidate in the parliamentary elections and who is widely regarded as the most influential man in Georgia’s governance) recently claimed that he invented the “Global War Party” term in order to differentiate the local war party (the previous government party, currently in the opposition – the United National Movement) from global forces who desire to drag Georgia into the war (see different instances of Georgian Dream and government officials commenting about the “Global War Party” here).

Government propaganda argues that the “Global War Party” exerts control over the EU and US institutions in which MEPs, US Congressmen and embassies/ambassadors of some Western countries are a part. The GD states that the aim of the “Global War Party” vis-à-vis Georgia is to drag the country into the war with Russia in order to open a second front that would alleviate pressure from the Ukrainian front. The hypothetical theory from the practical and military standpoint is absurd and Western governments have denied such plans on numerous occasions.

The Prime Minister and the State Security Service of Georgia have given additional twists to this conspiracy – claiming that some foreign powers have planned the killing of Bidzina Ivanishvili and the PM has had his life personally threatened; that is, to share the same fate as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico who was shot several times. The latter accusation has been pinned on the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Várhelyi, who in fact was speaking about the risks of extreme political polarisation, among other issues, as a means of overthrowing the Georgian government and destabilising the country. In July, the State Security Service of Georgia announced that it was conducting aninvestigation into the preparation of a terrorist attack (by the former government and military/security officials from the previous government currently in Ukraine), including towards Mr Ivanishvili and a conspiracy to overthrow the constitutional order and the government. This message aligned with the statement of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service that a conspiracy was being organised in Georgia, claiming that the Biden administration was planning to overthrow the government in Georgia using violent means, including causing a “sacred victim;” that is, killing a demonstrator at a pre-planned anti-government demonstration.

The conspiracy claims that this and other destabilising plans and attempts from the “Global War Party” aim to install their marionettes in the Georgian government and make them open a second front against Russia. The GD claims that the political opposition, CSOs and the critical media are agents of the “Global War Party” and labels them as a “(local) war party” whilst positioning itself as a “part of peace.” This has been the main line of the GD’s re-election (4th term) campaign and to that end, the ruling party has even launched banners and ads showing Ukrainian buildings and churches bombed by Russia coloured in grey and similar sites in Georgia in full colour with the slogan: “Say no to war – Choose peace.” The use of the devastated and war-torn Ukrainian sites for propaganda purposes has been widely criticised locally and internationally.

Georgian Dream advertisements saying: “No to war” (written on photos of war-torn Ukraine), “Choose peace” (written on photos of Georgia) with the crossed-out numbers of the opposition parties (4, 5, 9, 25) on the grey side of the advertisement

Since 2022, the GD has aired the allegation towards its critics of being agents of the “Global War Party” against any criticism as a strategy to deflect the blame for the shortcomings, especially concerning the EU accession process. For instance, the “Global War Party” was blamed for being behind the EU’s decision not to grant Georgia candidate status in 2022, unlike Moldova and Ukraine. In reality, in its opinion on Georgia’s EU membership application, the EU Commission noted that crucial challenges were present in Georgia, particularly due to “the overly divided political scene,” claiming that there was “an urgent need to address this political polarisation and enhance democratic oversight.” Apart from thepolitical situation, the EU was not happy about Georgia's judiciary's state of affairs, not sufficiently satisfied with Georgia’s anti-corruption measures and fight against organised crime; the EU also highlighted the need to ensure the protection of pluralistic media and better enforcement of fundamental rights. All of these issues were included in the conditionality (12 priorities) put forward by the EU Commission as preconditions to be granted candidate status. Therefore, it is evident that GD invented the “Global War Party” conspiracy to overshadow the actual issues due to which Georgia was not granted the candidate status in 2022.

The “Global War Party” has also been linked to the 2008 August war. The Georgian Dream openly blamed the start of the war on Georgia and its government atthat time (currently one of the main opposition parties), stressed the need to apologise to the Ossetian people for the actions of the government in 2008 and largely ignored Russia’s primary role in the process. The Georgian Dream’s propaganda narrative linked the 2008 August war to this conspiracy – claiming that Georgia’s government, comprised of foreign-controlled agents (currently in the opposition), executed foreign instruction by starting a war. This narrative further endorses the “second front” conspiracy as it suggests that the “Global War Party,” which influences EU and US policies, already managed to drag Georgia into the war with Russia by the hands of its local Georgian agents; that is, the former government that currently constitutes the opposition party, the United National Movement. The messages related to the 2008 August war were in line with the official Kremlin messaging that after the debate at the UN Security Council, theRussian ambassador to the UN read out the translation of the GD’s statement at the media briefing as an argument for Russia’s cause: “Just try to recall these words (the Georgian Dream’s statement) when our Western colleagues then come into this room and lie about what happened at that moment (during Russia’s invasion of Georgia in August 2008).”

False Dilemma: LGBTQ+ Rights vs Traditional Values

Apart from the “Global War Party” conspiracy theory, the Georgian Dream is also trying to capitalise on the conservative sentiments in Georgia and illustrate that the EU and its member states are promoting and trying to impose “LGBT propaganda” over Georgia. To that end, they have adopted the so-called “anti-LGBT propaganda” law encroaching on minority rights. Whilst the ruling party claims that the law aims to protect family values and minors, in reality, it is a propaganda stunt – this is evident as the Venice Commission argues in its opinion on the law that “a legislative initiative aimed at integrating the Georgian Constitution and touching upon highly sensitive issues is launched in a period of time characterised by vigorous and prolonged mass protests and strong political and societal tensions, all the more so in circumstances where this is happening only a matter of months before the elections, disregarding the concerns raised by several international observers.” The Venice Commission also claims that “the mere proposal of adopting this text risks to (further) fuel a hostile and stigmatising atmosphere against LGBTI people in Georgia. The Commission thus recommends the Georgian authorities to reconsider this legislative proposal entirely and to not proceed with its adoption.”

However, the ruling party supported the law and their messaging aims to create impressions that 1) the values enshrined in the EU legislation are incompatible with Georgian traditional values and, therefore, dissuade people from actively supporting the EU accession, and 2) the criticism from the EU and the freezing of the accession process is because the government is resisting the EU to impose “LGBT propaganda” on Georgia. Homophobic propaganda is frequently employed to target Western politicians. This is also tied to the religious-focused propaganda with the GD portraying itself as the protector of Christianity which, it claims, is under attack from the opposition parties, CSOs and the critical media all of which get orders from abroad.

Government suggests Georgia will be a “sovereign state” if it is elected but a colony if the opposition prevails

Additionally, concerning the elections, one of the main messages which the GD is trying to peddle is that the electoral campaign is taking place amidst “unprecedented foreign interference” and “election meddling.” This might have been true if they meant Russia which is not only traditionally targeting Georgia with disinformation campaigns but now Russian officials and intelligence agencies are also regularly commenting on Georgian elections, tacitly supporting the ruling party and blaming the US and the West (the EU) for planning to organise a coup d’état in Georgia after the elections with the “Ukrainian Maidan” scenario because their agents – the political opposition – is not able to win the elections. TheRussian Foreign Intelligence Service claimed on a number of occasions that the US State Department intends to use the OSCE/ODIHD to interfere in the parliamentary elections in Georgia to prevent the victory of the ruling party, something which is undesirable for Washington.

However, GD officials are largely silent (or sometimes have even endorsed the statements of Russian officials) about Russia’s overt interference – accordingto Prime Minister Kobakhidze, Russia does not have the resources to influence the election process in Georgia. Instead, they focus on what they claim is interference in internal affairs and electoral processes from the West – the US, the EU and its member states. They perceive critical statements about the issues of Georgia’s democratic backsliding and infringement of minority rightsand theEU’s assessments of actions and laws against Georgia’s EU accession conditionality as blatant interference. Even EU officials and member state presidents meeting with Georgia’s president without the government's approval was assessed as interference. In return, the ruling party promises moving forward into the EU with “dignity” which implies becoming an EU member on Georgia’s undemocratic terms. In response, the EU has claimed that Georgia will not be able to join the EU if it is a one-party state without an opposition, civil society organisations, free media; and that Georgia’s accession process needs to be based on the rules and principles that apply to all and that the EU’s values are non-negotiable.

Georgian elections have always been characterised with high polarisation and various types of disinformation or discrediting campaigns, but what makes this pre-election campaign different is that the ruling party has become the primary source disinformation targeting the EU and democratic values.