Georgia: Initial results point to victory for the ruling party

(dpa) In the South Caucasus republic of Georgia, which borders Russia, the pro-Western opposition and the national-conservative ruling party are arguing over the preliminary results of the parliamentary election. Both the party of the country’s richest and most powerful man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and the pro-European opposition claim victory. Non-governmental organizations complained about hundreds of electoral violations, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) wants to announce the verdict of its approximately 500 election observers today.

The country on the Black Sea has 3.7 million inhabitants and has been a candidate for EU membership since the end of 2023. However, the accession process is on hold due to controversial laws. The opposition, traditionally divided and with several electoral alliances, fears that Georgia, under the leadership of the oligarch Ivanishvili, who has become rich in Moscow, will turn even more towards its big neighbor Russia and finally deviate from its EU course. The ruling party he founded, the Georgian Dream, promised peace and stability during the election campaign – and raised fears of a war with Russia if the opposition won.

After counting more than 70 percent of the ballot papers, the electoral commission in the capital Tbilisi awarded the ruling party an absolute majority – around 53 percent. Four pro-European opposition blocs that passed the threshold of five percent totaled a good 38 percent of the vote. Shortly after the polls closed, Ivanishvili presented himself as the winner at a celebration with his supporters and fireworks in Tbilisi, without any meaningful results being available.

Opposition alliances want to fight for victory

The pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili, who is close to the opposition, announced after the publication of the first forecasts that the parties aspiring to join the EU had received 52 percent of the vote. She cited post-election surveys by the US Edison Institute, which had predicted a defeat for the ruling party.

The pro-Western opposition alliances do not recognize the official results and want to fight for victory. Although they are at odds with each other, their common goal is to get rid of the 68-year-old billionaire Ivanishvili and take a pro-EU course. The election management only obeyed Ivanishvili’s orders, said the head of ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili’s United National Movement party, Tinatin Bokuchava. An action plan for government opponents is being coordinated.

«The elections were stolen from the opposition. This is a constitutional coup and an abuse of power,” said Nika Gwaramia of the Coalition for Change. The election was falsified according to a complicated technological scheme. He didn’t give any details.

Hundreds of election observers from dozens of different non-governmental organizations were deployed in the country. The preliminary election results did not reflect the will of the voters, said a statement from the pro-European NGO alliance Myvote, which was also distributed by the Georgian branch of the well-known anti-corruption organization Transparency International. Election law experts had already complained in advance about misuse of state resources by the ruling party.

A total of around 3.5 million Georgians at home and abroad were called to vote. According to preliminary information, voter turnout was around 59 percent – three percentage points higher than in 2020.