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Any watcher of the broadcast news in Georgia will have noticed the big increase in coverage the Christian Democrat party, led by Giorgi Targamadze - a man who once denounced Mikheil Saakashvili as a military dictator on live TV - are getting: a sure sign that they are being favoured by the regime in some way.

More recently (see picture) media help has been combined with being treated with seriousness and gravity by President Mikheil Saakashvili - something the Christian Democrats seem only too happy to play along with, whatever they said in the past.

The reason for this sudden love-in isn't too difficult to divine: the regime need somebody to legitimise their claims to be democrats just as the heavyweights from the US and EU are about to come to Tbilisi to deliver some harsh words about broken promises on media freedom, electoral reform and human rights.

The coming weeks will see serious negotiations between the US and the Georgian authorities on their strategic partnership and it is widely expected that the US side will take a firm line with the Georgian government over lack of progress on democratisation.

Inside the country the negotiations over electoral reform are widely believed to be in crisis because of the UNM's refusal to agree any electoral system that ensures the sitting mayor of Tbilisi, Giorgi Ugulava, can be unseated without an overwhelming vote for the opposition and there is even the threat that UNM intransigence will lead to their candidate facing no credible challenge at all.

And this is where the Christian Democrats are of use to Mikheil Saakashvili. Their decision to field a candidate in next year's local elections - seemingly regardless of the electoral environment means Saakashvili will be able to point to a contest, even if it is overwhelmingly one-sided.

The Christian Democrats are never going to beat the UNM - the very fact they allow themselves to be framed as Saakashvili's allies and advisors means they cannot mobilise the hundreds of thousands of Tbilisi voters who backed this Spring's demonstrations against the president, even if they can win some of the centre ground.

But they are likely to fight a vigourous campaign - meaning the UNM will get the kudos of looking like they faced a serious challenge without ever having to worry about the result.

What Georgia's western partners will make of such a cosy arrangement is another matter entirely: for surely they will realise that an electoral process that does nothing to heal the rifts in Georgian society and indeed only re-enforces the argument from some quarters that elections with Saakashvili in power are a waste of time is not a reasonable return on their massive investment of aid in Georgia.