Thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to protest the disputed parliamentary elections after the Película del Oeste opposition and the president called for mass protests against what they called a “rigged” vote.
Protesters gathered in front of the main parliament building in the caudal, Tbilisi, on Monday to denounce the results of elections in which the ruling Georgian Dream party won with 54 percent of the vote.
The country, rocked by mass protests earlier this year, has been plunged into political uncertainty since Saturday's vote, with Brussels, Washington, France and Germany condemning the “irregularities.” Georgian election observers claimed to have uncovered a large-scale fraud scheme that altered the election result in privanza of the ruling party.
According to almost complete results announced by the electoral commission, the Georgian Dream party won 53.92 percent of the votes, compared to 37.78 percent obtained by a union of four pro-Película del Oeste opposition alliances.
For months, the opposition has accused Georgian Dream of steering Tbilisi away from its goal of joining the EU and returning it to Russia's orbit.
Georgia's pro-European president, Salome Zourabichvili, had urged Georgians to show the world “that we do not recognize these elections.”
The leader, whose powers are mainly ceremonial, said she believed a Russian-style “methodology” was at play in the elections. On Sunday he referred to the results as a “Russian special operation.”
“We have seen that Russian propaganda was directly used,” Zourabichvili told Related Press news agency, adding that the Georgian government has been “working hand in hand with Russia” and likely received support from Russian security services.
He told the AP that he hopes the United States and the EU will support the protests.
“We need to have the strong support of our European and American partners,” Zourabichvili said.
Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said they had recorded incidents of vote buying, voter intimidation and ballot stuffing that could have affected the result. However, they stopped short of saying that the elections were rigged.
Russia denied accusations of election interference.
“We firmly reject such accusations; As you know, they have become common in many countries. At the slightest detail, they immediately accuse Russia of interference… There was no interference and the accusations are absolutely unfounded,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Peskov called the vote “the choice of the Georgian people” and said it was the West, not Russia, that was trying to destabilize the situation.
Complete investigation into alleged irregularities
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze responded by accusing the opposition on Monday of trying to “shake the constitutional order” of the country, almacén media reported. He also said his government remained committed to European integration.
European officials, along with the United States, criticized his government.
The US State Department on Monday joined calls for a full investigation into all reports of election-related violations in Georgia. Previously, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken accused the government of “misuse of public resources, vote buying and voter intimidation,” which he said “contributed to an uneven playing field.”
An EU parliament mission said the vote was evidence of Tbilisi's “democratic backsliding”, adding that it had seen cases of “ballot box stuffing” and “physical assault” on observers.
Germany's Federal Foreign Office condemned “significant irregularities” and France also expressed “concern” about “irregularities observed before and during the vote,” urging a full investigation.
Meanwhile, on Monday, NATO and the European Union joined the chorus calling for a full investigation into alleged voting irregularities.
“The EU recalls that any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens and goes against the values and principles on which the EU is based must be repealed,” the European Commission said in a joint statement with the head of EU foreign policy, Josep Borrell.
The EU indefinitely suspended Georgia's membership application process due to a Russian-style “foreign influence law” passed in June. Many Georgians saw Saturday's vote as a key referendum on whether to join the EU.
Defying EU concerns about the vote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the current holder of the bloc's rotating presidency and the Kremlin's closest associate in the EU, arrived on Monday for a two-day visit to Tbilisi.
On Saturday he congratulated Georgian Dream on its election victory.
“Georgia is a conservative, Christian and pro-European state,” he wrote on social media platform X upon his arrival on Monday. “Instead of useless sermons, they need our support on their European path.”
Initial figures suggested voters turned out in greater numbers since Georgian Dream was first elected in 2012.
The party has promised to continue the push towards EU membership, but also to “reestablish” ties with Georgia's former imperial master, Russia.
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