Georgians Who Vote Not

It sometimes feels like everyone in Georgia has chosen a side for the country's October 1 parliamentary vote, and, come hell or high water, they'll have no truck with the enemy camp. But often overlooked in the fights between the red-and-whites (pro-Mikheil-Saakashvili) and the blues (pro-Bidzina-Ivanishvili) is the crowd that plans to opt out of the election altogether by not voting or voting against all candidates.

Analysts expect that Georgia's poor economy, hit-and-miss democratic record and recent revelations of prison abuses will translate into a massive voter turnout. By 3pm, the Central Election Committee reported that 45 percent of the country's 3.6-million-plus registered voters had cast votes.

But the nasty, stoop-to-anything election campaign also has produced skeptics, who, worn out by the fevered mudslinging between Saakashvili's United National Movement/government and Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream coalition, are opting to express their views on Facebook rather than at the ballot box.

“If there is anything that I have learned for the past 20 years of our being independent is that our strange version of democracy rests on the unbridled vanity of the politicians and the impulsive naïvete of the voters,” fumed psychologist Salome, who asked not to be identified by her last name. Among Georgian voters, she complained, "there is no follow-up, no widespread critical thinking until they come face to face with horrendous injustice or crime . . ."

Georgians came face to face with a “horrendous injustice” right before the vote when gruesome footage of the beating and sexual abuse of prisoners was aired on television. Many undecided voters are now expected to vote against the government, but some of the mud has stuck to the Ivanishvili crowd as well. Some Georgians reckon that the tapes -- of debatable provenance -- were concealed until they could be released at a politically advantageous time.

David Parulava, a university student who, among many others over the past few weeks, rallied against prison abuse, argues that the choice between Bidzina and Misha “is a choice between bad and worse, and I am not even sure which one is bad or worse in this." He says that he will go to the polls “ to cross out all the candidates… I don’t trust any side.”

Online TV editor Nana Sajaia is also distrustful of all the parties, but does not think that saying no to all candidates is the way to go. “If I could vote against everyone, I would do that, but if you cross out everyone the bulletin becomes void,” she said -- a situation which, she fears, could still benefit a particular candidate.

But not everyone's choice to abstain is grounded in current events.

“Every single election is pitched to us as the final battle for Georgia,” complained web designer Levan Baratashvili. “For many people, it is a sport, an opportunity to run around with flags, scream and argue."

Once the polls close at 8pm and the first exit-poll results are released (an event for which the Georgian Dream is organizing gatherings in Tbilisi this evening), there is likely to be much more of that in the hours to come.