This is the epilogue of legislative elections as crucial as they are undecided this Saturday, October 26 for the future of Georgia, divided between a pro-European opposition and a ruling party accused of pro-Russian authoritarian drift. After counting the ballots from 70% of polling stations, the Georgian Dream party won 53% of the votes against 38.28% for the coalition of four pro-European parties, according to the results communicated in the evening by the central electoral commission (CEC).
Both camps, however, claimed victory after the polling stations closed at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. in Paris). The pro-European opposition was given the lead ahead of the ruling party in a poll carried out for a television channel favorable to the opposition by the American institute Edison Research. The four pro-European parties would have won a total of 51.9% of the vote, compared to 40.9% for Georgian Dream, according to this poll.
In the process, Tina Bokuchava, head of the United National Movement, one of the four groups, claimed victory: “Georgian dream has lost, the Georgian people and Europe have won.” For her part, President Salomé Zourabichvili declared in a message published on (former Twitter) who “European Georgia wins with 52% of the votes, despite attempts to rig the elections (…) I am proud and confident in our European future!”
But shortly after, another poll carried out by an institute close to the government put the government in the lead, with 56% of the votes obtained. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the reclusive billionaire founder of the ruling party and former prime minister, in turn claimed victory. “It is a rare case in the world that the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation – this is a good indicator of the talent of the Georgian people”said Bidzina Ivanishvili a few minutes after the polling stations closed.
By mid-afternoon, five hours before polling stations closed, turnout was 41.62%, up from 2016 (34.79%) and 2020 (36.45%). The result of these proportional elections for the renewal of the 150 seats in Parliament was difficult to predict. Especially since the vote, monitored by international observers, is already marked by several incidents, widely reported online. The electoral commission announced in the afternoon that it had received 133 complaints about violations of voting secrecy, incidents outside polling stations, obstacles to the work of observers, etc.
“Violent incidents of deep concern”
Images appearing to show ballot stuffing in Sadakhlo, a village in the east, were widely shared by the opposition. The election commission canceled the ballots in this office. Opponent Tina Bokoutchava accused the “thugs” of the Georgian Dream of “cling to power” and of “undermining the electoral process”, remarks rejected by this party.
A video of a fight at a polling station in Tbilisi prompted President Salomé Zourabichvili to call on the Interior Minister to act. In a video message, she expressed concern about “deeply worrying violent incidents (…) in different polling stations”. The association of young lawyers, which monitors these legislative elections, reported “significant electoral violations.”
Recent opinion polls show that an unprecedented alliance of opposition groups could defeat the Georgian Dream, the conservative party of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. In power since 2012, he is accused of distancing Georgia from the European Union and NATO, which it also aims to join. Among the quartet of opposition parties concerned is the United National Movement of imprisoned ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, the sworn enemy of Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Georgia was rocked in May by large protests against a “foreign influence” law, inspired by Russian “foreign agents” legislation used to crush civil society. Brussels subsequently froze Georgia’s accession process to the EU and the United States took sanctions against Georgian officials.
Another cause of tensions with Westerners: the recent promulgation of a law severely restricting the rights of LGBT+ people in Georgia, a country with an Orthodox Christian tradition where hostility towards sexual minorities remains strong.
Update : at 8:35 p.m., with the addition of partial results released by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).
Source: www.liberation.fr
