The Leftist Populism in The Parliamentary Elections of 2016 and 2020: Electoral Slogans Against the Banking Sector

Abstract

Populist narratives and discourses occupy an important place in Georgian politics. Populist narratives are most prominent during the electoral campaign. Many parties use populist rhetoric in order to gain support.

The goal of the article is to analyze and identify the populist narratives and discourses which were directed against banks employed by the political parties. For this purpose, electoral campaign of Parliamentary elections of 2016 and 2020 were chosen. In the article, populism is understood as a discursive style that is a form of political expression for political actors, and is selectively used by parties with different views.

Different elements of ideological discourse were employed in the narratives directed against the banking sector in the public speeches of the leaders and members of political parties. The populist "banks rob people" discourse was used against banks. Labor Party of Georgia, “Strategy Aghmashenebeli”, “Tribune”, Leftist Alliance, Solidarity Alliance employed the above mentioned narratives and discourses.