Elections in Georgia:the ruling party wins, thousands take to the streets in protest

The Georgian Dream party confirmed with 53.9 percent of the votes.But accusations of fraud and interference are pouring in.The EU asks for an investigation.Meanwhile, the president of the country calls for protest.The winners:“This is a coup d'état.”

• The October 26 parliamentary elections in Georgia were won by the ruling Georgian Dream party with 53.9 percent of the vote.
• The opposition denounces alleged fraud and interference by Moscow.Tens of thousands of people protested in the streets of Tbilisi against the election result which risks taking the country further away from integration with the EU.
• Washington and Brussels are calling for investigations into the alleged violations.Moscow returns the accusations to the sender.And there are those who speak of an attempted coup d'état.

Thousands of people yesterday evening, 28 October 2024, protested in the center of Tbilisi against the result of the parliamentary elections which confirmed the ruling party Georgian dream with 53.9 percent of preferences, against 37.7 percent of the opposition coalition. The turnout was 59 percent. The president Salomé Zourabichvili declared the results “illegitimate,” claiming election interference by a “Russian special operation.”

“I cannot recognize these elections:they would legitimize Russia's takeover of Georgia.Our predecessors have endured too much for us to give up on our European future."It is a tough stance, which incites protest, that of Zourabichvili. After having defined them as "rigged elections" with "Russian infiltration", the pro-European president said that she would not recognize the outcome of the vote, inviting the people to protest in front of Parliament.

The winning party

The head-to-head between Georgian Dream, which has governed for 12 years, and the opposition forces was interpreted by many as a watershed which could determine whether the Georgia will move away from the path towards the'integration with the European Union (gained candidate status in 2023) to return to the sphere of influence of Russia, one of Tbilisi's main economic partners.

The victory of the party founded by the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, the richest man in Georgia vha spent much of the 1990s in Russia by founding banking, metallurgical and telecommunications companies, it could in fact mark a rift with Brussels.A rift which is particularly affected by the accusations of alleged fraud and violations reported during Saturday's vote.

Founded in 2012 by Ivanishvili who gathered around him the opposition forces that opposed the then president Mikheil Saakashvili, the party Georgian dream, despite officially declaring itself a pro-European party (in 2018 it was the Georgian Dream that set the goal of joining the EU and getting closer to NATO) in the last two years it has downsized its position towards Europe, preferring a more neutral attitude.A change of tone influenced by the war in Ukraine and the fear of new tensions with Russia, interpreted by many as a "flashback" with Moscow.

The accusations of alleged fraud

Disputing the result of Saturday's vote, the Georgian opposition he asked to hold new elections managed by “an international electoral administration”.Local observers have indeed accused the government of having undertaken "a complex scheme of electoral fraud".Also journalists from the independent newspaper OC-Media they write that he “observed violations throughout the day, including violations of the secrecy of the vote".

In a video, circulated when the polls were still open, a person is seen putting a series of ballots into the ballot box.

Zlatko Vujovic, head of mission of the European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations, speaks of violence used against members of the opposition, voter intimidation, smear campaigns against observers and improper use of administrative resources.

“The elections were not conducted correctly, as should be expected from a candidate country for the European Union,” Vujovic said.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze he instead rejected the opposition's accusations, claiming that it was only an attempt to "justify" their political failure.“It is technically impossible to do any tricks when elections are held by electronic voting,” the prime minister said.

In short, after protests of May 2024, triggered by the approval of the controversial Foreign Agents Act, renamed the “Russian law” due to the similarities with the legislation used by Moscow to silence the independent press and NGOs, the shadow of new riots and political crisis now looms over this small country in the Caucasus.

“I don't see a positive future for the opposition now – commented the Georgian political analyst Ghia Nodia, former Minister of Education –.With the announcement of the election results, a historic stage comes to an end, a stage that was taking us in the direction of Europe."

The reactions from Brussels

Meanwhile the European Commission and its vice-president Josep Borrell they released one declaration joint in which they ask the Central Election Commission of Georgia and “other competent authorities” to “fulfill their duty to promptly, transparently and independently investigate electoral irregularities”.

They also called on Georgia to “adopt democratic, comprehensive and sustainable reforms, in line with the fundamental principles of European integration”, stressing that “any legislation that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of Georgian citizens, and that is contrary to the values ​​and principles of the EU, must be abolished”.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has warned that Washington does not “rule out further consequences if the direction of the Georgian government does not change.”

“We were witnesses and victims of a real special operation conducted by Russia:a new type of hybrid warfare against our people,” he increased the dose President Salomé Zourabichvili speaking from her presidential palace, surrounded by opposition leaders.

Comments from Moscow

The reactions from Moscow were not long in coming.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov he said that there had indeed been attempts to manipulate these elections, “but not by Russia.”According to him, “many forces from European countries tried to influence the outcome of the vote, and they didn't even try to hide it, they did it openly.”

Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry Marija Zakharova, responding to the statement of Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili, criticized the concept of the “European future” by saying that people can only have a future “if they think with their own heads and do not blindly follow Washington's orders”.

Meanwhile, one of the first world leaders to congratulate the Georgian Dream politicians was the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who recently visited Tbilisi.

Accusations of preparations for a coup d'état

After the invitation to take to the streets and protest launched by president Salomé Zourabichvili, a senior exponent of the winning party, Shalva Papuashvili, spoke of preparations for acoup d'état”.“This scenario – said Papuashvili – was prepared in advance.Declaring the results illegitimate to form a caretaker government:this is the scenario of a coup d'état."

Words already heard, which bring to mind the Ukrainian scenario with the street protests Maidan interpreted by Moscow as a coup d'état.Yesterday, October 28, the Russian state agency Tax, citing sources in the region, published the news of the alleged arrival in Georgia of “snipers trained in Ukraine to organize provocations during mass protests.”

Regardless of the political showdown, Georgia is facing a historic turning point.Global and regional changes are underway, and any political force that takes charge of Tbilisi will have to deal with this reality.