Hungary’s Orbán visits Georgia to support ruling party facing post-election protests

TBILISI, Georgia. Georgia’s ruling party, which has faced mass opposition protests demanding the annulment of its victory in parliamentary elections over the weekend amid allegations of vote rigging with the help of Russia, is getting a boost after a visit by Hungary’s prime minister.

Viktor Orbán, the first foreign leader to hail the Georgian Dream, arrived in Georgia on Monday on a trip that highlighted his rifts with the European Union. The EU said it had no mandate from the bloc for the visit.

Tens of thousands of Georgians rallied outside the parliament on Monday night, demanding new elections under international supervision and an investigation into alleged vote-rigging. The protest underscored tensions in the country, which lies between Russia and Turkey and where the ruling Georgian Dream party has become increasingly authoritarian and pro-Moscow.

President Salome Zurabishvili, who rejected the official results, told the Associated Press that Georgia fell victim to Russian pressure against joining the EU. She expressed hope that the United States and the EU would support the demonstrations.

“We saw that Russian propaganda was used directly,” said Zurabishvili, the mostly ceremonial president and fierce critic of the Georgian Dream. She said the government “worked side by side with Russia” and “probably” received help from Moscow’s security services.

The Kremlin rejected the accusations of interference. The US and the EU have called for a full investigation into the results of Saturday’s vote.

The Central Election Commission said that “Georgian Dream” won 54.8% of the votes, counting almost all the ballots. The party, founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, has passed laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to suppress free speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

The US representatives called on Georgia to abolish authoritarian legislation, eliminate flaws in the elections and move Georgia towards Europe.

Prime Minister Iraklii Kobakhidze, a member of Georgian Dream, called his party’s success “impressive and obvious” and that “any attempts to talk about election manipulation… are doomed to failure.”

During a meeting with Orban on Tuesday, Kobakhidze thanked him for supporting Georgia’s EU integration and noted that the two countries share values ​​and approaches.

Orban, in turn, said that the result of the vote means that the Georgian people “voted for peace”, adding that “no one wants to destroy their own country and drag it into a senseless war”.

Orban’s comments appeared to echo the rhetoric of the divisive Georgian Dream election campaign, in which the ruling party accused the opposition of trying to destabilize the country and pointed to the war in Ukraine, saying the same fate could befall Georgia.

The Hungarian leader called the Georgian vote free and democratic and dismissed opposition claims that Georgian Dream opposes EU integration as “truly ridiculous.”

Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest partner in the EU and Europe’s longest-serving leader, currently holds the EU presidency, which is often the bloc’s global megaphone and which Orban has used to highlight internal divisions.

The EU has suspended Georgia’s membership application indefinitely due to the Russian-style “external influence law” passed in June. Many Georgians saw Saturday’s vote as a key referendum on the possibility of joining the EU.

The election campaign in the country of 3.7 million people, which borders Russia, was marked by a fierce battle for votes and allegations of a smear campaign. European observers said the election took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by intimidation and incidents of vote-buying, double voting and physical violence.

During the campaign, Georgian Dream used “anti-Western and hostile rhetoric … promoted Russian disinformation, manipulation and conspiracy theories,” said Antonio López-Isturiz White, head of the European Parliament’s monitoring delegation.

Election observers noted that cases of intimidation and other violations are particularly visible in rural areas.

The voter turnout was one of the highest since Georgian Dream first gained control of parliament in 2012.

The party has pledged to continue pushing for EU membership, but also wants to “reset” ties with Georgia’s former imperial overlord, Russia. In 2008, Georgia fought and lost a brief war with Moscow, which then recognized the independence of two separatist regions of Georgia and increased its military presence there.