In the parliamentary elections in Georgia, the electoral commission declared the ruling party the winner. After counting almost all ballots, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili’s national conservative Georgian Dream Party received 54.09 percent of the votes, the election leadership in the capital Tbilisi announced.
The pro-European opposition does not recognize this preliminary result and has announced protests. Observers from various NGOs complained of massive violations of electoral law.
After counting votes from 99.6 percent of the constituencies, some from abroad were still missing, the returning officer said. The provisional official end result is therefore still awaited.
Pro-European parties detect election fraud
According to a statement, the Association of Young Georgian Lawyers Gyla recorded numerous cases of people voting multiple times. Election observers were also hampered in their work, Gyla said. The association demanded that the election commission provide clarity. Other non-governmental organizations said the results did not reflect the will of voters. In the afternoon, the verdict of the election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was eagerly awaited.
The pro-European opposition parties speak of election fraud and claim victory for themselves. Pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili said after the release of post-election surveys that the opposition would get 52 percent of the vote and could form a pro-Western majority in parliament. On the other hand, the election commission saw that the four opposition blocs exceeded the five percent mark with more than 37 percent.
The opposition is divided
However, the opposition in the Black Sea country is divided. Some parties had formed electoral alliances. According to the electoral commission, the electoral alliance Unity, which also includes the United National Movement, the largest opposition party in the 2020 parliamentary elections, received about ten percent of the votes. The electoral alliance Coalition for Change is therefore the strongest oppositional alliance with approximately eleven percent of the votes counted. According to the information, two other blocks each fell below ten percent.
In total, about 3.5 million Georgians at home and abroad were called to vote. According to preliminary information, voter turnout in the elections was around 59 percent – three percentage points higher than in 2020.
Orbán congratulated
Georgia 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 traditionally divided opposition fears that Georgia, under the leadership of Ivanishvili, who has become rich in Moscow, will focus even more on its large neighbor Russia and ultimately deviate from the EU course.
The ruling party he founded, the Georgian Dream, promised peace and stability during the election campaign – and expressed fears of war with Russia if the opposition won. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were the first to congratulate the Georgian Dream on its victory.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
