Georgia’s president has claimed her country was the victim of a Russian “special operation” after a pro-Putin party won yesterday’s election.
Side with the Georgian opposition, President Salomé Zourabichvili said she did not recognize the result and called on protesters to take to the streets.
The country’s Central Election Commission said Georgian Dream, led by pro-Putin oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, won 54.8% of Saturday’s vote with almost 100% of votes counted. Following a divisive pre-election campaign, initial figures suggested turnout is the highest since the ruling party was first elected in 2012.
Georgian election observers, who stationed thousands of people across the country to monitor the vote, reported multiple violations and said the results “do not correspond to the will of the Georgian people.”
Now President Zourabichvili has pointed the finger at Putin and accused Russia of meddling in an election that could decide Georgia’s place in Europe for a generation.
Siding with the Georgian opposition, President Salomé Zourabichvili (pictured) said she did not recognize the result and called on protesters to take to the streets.
Billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the Georgian Dream party he created, greets protesters during a demonstration in Tbilisi, Georgia, on April 29, 2024.
Georgian Dream has been accused of tilting in favor of Putin
As he called on Georgians to take to the streets of the capital, Tbilisi, tomorrow afternoon he said the results were a “total falsification, a total theft of their votes.”
Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian and has adopted laws similar to those used by Russia to suppress free speech. Brussels indefinitely suspended Georgia’s EU membership process due to a “Russian law” passed in June.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of Georgian Dream who made his fortune in Russia, claimed victory almost immediately after the polls closed, saying: “It is rare in the world that the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation.” Before the election he had promised to ban opposition parties if his party won.
Tina Bokuchava, president of the opposition United National Movement party, accused the electoral commission of carrying out Ivanishvili’s “dirty order” and said it “stole victory from the Georgian people and therefore robbed them of their European future.” .
He indicated that the opposition will not recognize the results and “will fight like never before to reclaim our European future.”
The UNM party said its headquarters was attacked on Saturday, while Georgian media reported that two people were hospitalized after being attacked outside polling stations.
The pre-election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, which borders Russia, was dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter fight for votes and accusations of a smear campaign.
Some Georgians complained of intimidation and pressure to vote for the ruling party.
The Mail reported clear evidence of a brazen attempt to rig the process. Footage showed coaches full of villagers receiving money to vote and fights with bloodied election observers.
Supporters of the Georgian Dream Party celebrate the results of the exit poll in front of the new Georgian Dream headquarters during Georgia’s election day on October 26, 2024 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
From left: National flags of Georgia, the EU and Ukraine hang at a polling station during the parliamentary elections in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, October 26, 2024.
Georgian citizens participate during the parliamentary elections on October 26, 2024 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
A Georgian woman casts her vote during the parliamentary elections, at a polling station in Tbilisi, Georgia, on October 26, 2024.
Opposition parties hope to unseat Georgian Dream, who they believe has been cozying up to Putin (pictured) and enacting authoritarian legislation that mimics that of Russia.
A video circulated in which an opposition election observer is seen being brutally beaten at a polling station in Marneuli. The victim is currently in the hospital.
In another video, a representative of Georgian Dream, Rovshan Iskandarov, was seen apparently forcing dozens of ballots into a ballot box.
Georgians reported finding that their receipts had been tampered with. One showed that a tick had been placed next to a party, meaning the vote would be invalidated if they ticked a separate box.
Others posted videos of multiple ballots inside a mail-in ballot envelope, while foreign journalists who have criticized the regime have been banned from entering Georgia.
Georgian Dream obtained its highest percentage of votes (almost 90%) in the Javakheti region of southern Georgia, 133 kilometers west of the capital Tbilisi, where it failed to obtain more than 44% of the vote in any district. .
About 80% of Georgians favor joining the EU, according to polls, and the country’s constitution obliges its leaders to aspire to membership in that bloc and NATO.
Many fear that Georgian Dream is dragging the country towards authoritarianism and dashing hopes of EU membership.
The ruling Georgian Dream party came to openly support Moscow following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite the country being the most pro-Western in the region.