Stop the wailing and grumbling; just think—if I were walking around freely in Georgia, how quickly I would finish them off – Mikheil Saakashvili

Before I was taken prisoner, I met in Kyiv with the regional director of IPSOS, a major European public opinion research company. He told me that conducting public opinion polls in Georgia is extremely difficult because people are just as afraid as they are in Russian-occupied Crimea and Donetsk; he noted that asking direct questions is pointless and that one must gauge true sentiment through indirect questions. Georgia’s third president, Mikheil Saakashvili, wrote this on social media.

As Saakashvili points out, people are afraid to tell the truth in surveys.

"That was the reality even before the mass repressions—before people were thrown into prison and terrorized in the streets. You can only imagine how afraid people are now to speak the truth in surveys. And of the 46% who refused to answer, how many actually support the 'National Movement'?" "And as for those who said, 'I’m voting for "Georgian Dream"': consider how many of their family members are employees of municipal or state agencies (NPLEs and LEPLs), or how many are simply afraid to speak the truth.

And finally—just look around you: how many people in your circle are still 'Dream' supporters? So, stop the wailing and grumbling; just think about how quickly I would finish them off if I were walking freely in Georgia," writes Mikheil Saakashvili.