The MP Candidates in the Pre-Election Campaign and Voters without Information

Gulnur Kazimova

“What has the MP, whom we elected, done for us? He has never come to us and got interested in our problems. We have no gas and water supplies but nobody cares about it. Members of one of the political parties came here and tried to convince us to vote for him and their Georgian candidate. I want to vote for another candidate. I want to have a person of my nationality in the Georgian Parliament. I will definitely participate in the election,” Jamil Alasgarov, 81-years-old resident of Kizilajlo village in Marneuli district, said. 

54 single mandate candidates participate in the polls from different political parties in the municipalities inhabited with ethnic Azerbaijani people in Kvemo Kartli region – Gardabani, Bolnisi, Dmanisi and Marneuli for the upcoming October 8 Parliamentary Elections. 

You will see half-destroyed election banners of the candidates everywhere – in the town centers, on the central highways of the villages, on the buses and on the pillars of the electricity distribution system. 

Conversation with the ethnic Azerbaijani people in Kizilajlo village showed that population does not have information about the political parties and their election programs. People avoid speaking about elections. Instead, they are ready to speak about the problems accummulated for years. 

“Gas is very expensive; one truck of fire-wood costs 400 GEL. I am a retired person and how can I afford it with my pension? There is a forest in the neighboring villages and there people can cut down fire-wood but we are not allowed,” Sahin Nuriev could not hide his astonishment.

Samya Galandarova was teacher in Kizilajlo village before retire. She said the government recalled to pave the village roads with asphalt only few days before the election. 

“The road was in horrible conditions for years. People destroyed their cars here. They built the road two weeks before the elections. Politicians recall about us only before elections. Then they disappear during next four years and are busy of earning as much money as possible. We do not know anything about the candidates in our municipality.”

Aladdin Muradov works in the election office of Tamaz Naveryan, candidate of the ruuling party. Muradov said the pre-election campaign is going on in a peaceful environment. “After the campaign started, we give out election brochures and paste banners. We have not observed any problems so far. Nobody was discriminated.”

The single mandate candidates of the ruling party hold meetings with the voters mostly in the school premises. Kizilajlo village public school is also preparing for the meeting with the new candidate. The entire personnel is busy to clean the school. One of the teachers, who prefered to stay anonymouus, said the director organized a special meeting with them and suggested the colleagues to vote for the candidate from the ruling party. “The director said, the ruling party will raise our salaries. If another party will take up the office, he does not know whether they will raise our salaries or not. Although we, the teachers, are forced to participate in these meetings, our decision is the most important: who will know whom I will mark in the election booth?”

“My neighbor works for the single mandate candidate of the ruliing party. He asks us to vote for him. He said on October 8 we will be transported to the precincts by minibuses, and asks not to betray him,” Durdana Alyeva from Nakhiduri said.

49-years-old Vahid Humbatov complains about the drinking water problem. Vahid said the village has been supplied with the drinking water for years from the River Mashavera, which is polluted with heavy metals. “Children often have infections. Who cares about election? We drink polluted water every day!” 

The only place where people have pre-election feeling is the village center. Elderly men often gather there and try to predict election results. However, each time their conversation ends with the complaints about social problems.

The article was prepared in the frame of the project implemented by Human Rights House Tbilisi with financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands in Georgia. HRHT bears sole responsibility for the content of the article. The article does not necessarily reflect the views of the donor.