Georgian PM hails ‘convincing’ vote, declared rigged by president

Election observers speculated that a variety of voting irregularities may have influenced the outcome. However, the prime minister insisted that out of 3,111 polling stations, there were incidents “only in a few stations”.

The Georgian Dream is becoming increasingly authoritarian, passing Russian-style laws targeting the media and foreign-funded non-governmental groups, as well as the LGBT community. In response, the European Union froze Georgia’s bid to join the EU, accusing it of “departing from democracy.”

However, one of the EU leaders, Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, was especially quick to congratulate the party on its fourth term and is due to travel to Georgia on Monday.

Georgian Dream says it is keen to open talks on reviving its bid to join the EU, but the prospect of Orban arriving in Tbilisi two days after a disputed election is unlikely to be welcomed by Brussels.

In the first statement on Sunday evening, the head of the European Council of EU leaders, Charles Michel said that “alleged violations must be seriously investigated and dealt with”, external and called for a swift, transparent and independent investigation.

“Of course, we must resolve these violations that occur on election day or earlier,” the Georgian prime minister told the BBC. “But the general content of the elections corresponded to the legal principles and the principles of democratic elections.”

Four opposition groups refused to recognize the election results, denouncing them as rigged, and accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of vote rigging.