Voters at loggerheads ahead of Georgia's 'front line' election

By Felix Light

TBILISI (Reuters) - Nana Malashkhia never planned to get into politics.

But the 48-year-old former civil servant shot to fame in Georgia during the 2023 protests against a law on so-called "foreign agents" after she was filmed waving a European Union flag whilst being blasted by a police water cannon.

The video made her an icon for opposition-supporting Georgians who worry that the foreign agent law will sabotage the country's chances of joining the European Union, and want to see its authors in the ruling Georgian Dream party voted out of office.

Now, having left her job at the Tbilisi mayor's office to dedicate herself to politics, Malashkhia is at the centre of a high-stakes election on Saturday as the top candidate for the Coalition for Change, one of the country's four main opposition parties.

"I am the sort of person who doesn't like publicity. But when I decided to enter politics, I got out of my comfort zone. Because I understood that this election is the front line," she told Reuters.

By contrast, 23-year-old Sandro Dvalishvili, a law graduate and Georgian Dream activist, said he believes that some anti-government protesters have been hoodwinked into rallying for causes they do not fully grasp.

"People of my age especially are easily influenced by others," he said. "And that's why the majority of those who went to protests didn’t know why they were there."

Georgia's politics have long been deeply polarised, with most major media outlets either explicitly pro-government or pro-opposition.

Opposition supporters often dub the ruling party "Russian Dream", accusing its founder, billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, of harbouring sympathy for Georgia's vast northern neighbour and former imperial overlord.

Meanwhile, Georgian Dream accuses what it calls the "radical opposition" of being proxies for divisive former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for abuse of power, and of being sponsored by Western intelligence agencies.

During this campaign, Georgian Dream officials have repeatedly suggested they will ban opposition parties if they are returned to government.

Occasionally, the furious rhetoric tips over into violence. In April, an opposition member of parliament punched a Georgian Dream lawmaker in the face in parliament during a hearing on the foreign agents law, earning a beating in return.

On both sides, activists see this election as existential, with Georgia's democratic future, or its peace and stability at risk.

But above all, the shadow of geopolitics hangs over the election.

Critics at home and abroad have accused Georgian Dream of seeking to restore ties with Russia, which polls show most Georgians dislike, while deliberately tanking its chances of EU membership.

"Right now, what we have is a referendum. We are choosing between Europe and Russia," Malashkhia said.

For Malashkhia, EU membership is key to protecting Georgian sovereignty from Moscow, which ruled the country for 200 years, and continues to back separatists in two breakaway Georgian regions.

She said: "We can’t change our geography. Russia will always be next door. And that's exactly why we need to be with strong allies."

"And those strong allies are in the European Union."

But Sandro Dvalishvili, who outside politics also works as an actor, said that he feared that a victorious opposition's anti-Russian views could drag the country into war.

In 2008, Georgia lost a five-day war with Russia over the rebel province of South Ossetia, a defeat still raw today.

Georgian Dream has placed keeping the peace with Russia at the heart of its campaign. Around Tbilisi, billboards show pristine Georgian cities alongside devastated Ukrainian ones, above a caption reading "No to war! Choose peace".

Dvalishvili said: "Right now, some people don’t understand the danger they might face if we’re defeated."

"If it turns out that we don’t win, for me that’ll be very bad. Because I don’t see another force that will bring peace and stability to our country".

(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Angus MacSwan)