Georgian Dream Responds to Criticism over Ivanishvili’s TikTok Video

The Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia party issued a statement on April 22 in response to the criticism that emerged after Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the ruling party, appeared in public a day earlier, for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak, in a short video posted by his son, Bera Ivanishvili on TikTok platform. Ivanishvili’s appearance triggered strong criticism among opposition politicians and part of society.

The opponents slammed the video as “insulting,” claiming that Ivanishvili had not appeared in public amid the coronavirus pandemic to discuss the ways of overcoming the crisis and offering some alternatives.

“This absolutely harmless video, which is completely free of politics, has triggered a wave of absolutely unhealthy and malicious criticism from aggressive opponents of the Georgian Dream,” the ruling party said in its statement.

According to the statement, the opponents claimed that since Bidzina Ivanishvili had not appeared in the media during the crisis, he was doing nothing to help people and was only having fun.

The ruling party said that before the video was uploaded, Bidzina Ivanishvili held a number of meetings with the party members to discuss all pressing issues.

“Unlike his opponents and their leaders, Bidzina Ivanishvili is oriented to doing work and achieving tangible results for the benefit of the population, instead of showing himself off and receiving political dividends,” the statement reads.

The ruling party denounced the criticism as “absolutely unacceptable” in the situation, when “the results of the government’s work are clear and Georgian population and entire world positively evaluate them.”

“If it had been possible, these people would have blamed Bidzina Ivanishvili for the outbreak of the pandemic, because unlike him, they are not happy to see their own country’s achievements; they cannot tolerate that Georgia has an effective government and they cannot tolerate that Georgian people and the world are optimistic about Georgia’s future,” the ruling party said, adding that “just this is the reason of the National Movement’s discontent.”

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