Declaring a “Russian special operation”, the president of Georgia is calling for protests over disputed elections

In a dramatic show of unity, Georgia the often fragmented opposition gathered at the presidential palace in Tbilisi, standing side by side behind President Salome Zurabishvili as she defiantly announced: “I do not recognize these elections. To recognize them would be tantamount to legitimizing the Russian occupation of Georgia… We cannot give up our European future for the sake of future generations.”

The government, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, she said, was “illegitimate” and the election it held on October 26 was a “total fraud”.

Raising her voice, she said: “We were not just witnesses, but victims of what can only be called a Russian special operation – a new form of hybrid warfare being waged against our people and our country.”

She called on Georgians to gather for a protest action on Monday evening on the capital’s main street, Rustaveli Avenue, “to peacefully protect every voice and, most importantly, our future.”

This statement was a bold challenge to the founder of “Georgian Dream” and now the honorary chairman, the reclusive oligarch-billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, who declared victory in the parliamentary elections even before all the votes were counted.

Ivanishvili has promised to ban the opposition if his party wins the election, and opponents take him at his word.

On Saturday, as Georgians voted, thousands of Georgian and international observers traveled to polling stations across the country, from urban centers to impoverished remote villages in the Caucasus mountains, trying to assess whether the vote was free and fair.

During election day, videos of violations spread quickly, some of them egregious, such as a man brazenly stuffing ballots into a ballot box.

The following day, at a briefing by the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, alarming conclusions were drawn: “systematic” intimidation; harassment of voters at and outside polling stations; “widespread intimidation and pressure on public sector workers and recipients of social services.”

The observations of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) were even more stark: “On election day, ISFED documented serious violations such as the throwing of ballot papers, multiple voting, unprecedented levels of voter bribery, and the expulsion of observers from polling stations. at polling stations, as well as cases of mobilizing voters outside polling stations, collecting their personal data and monitoring their desire to vote.”

In Tbilisi, former US congressman John Shimkus said voter intimidation and harassment had created an “atmosphere of fear”.

Margareta Söderfelt, a member of the Swedish parliament, added: “The government’s constant harassment and intimidation of voters and civil society, not only during the elections, but also long before them, threatens the democratic foundations of Georgia.”

The Georgian opposition owes its new unity to the efforts of President Zurabishvili, a man some of them once criticized but now respect.

“She is on the right side of history,” said opposition politician Nika Gwaramia. “She is the only one who can unite people.”

Speaking at the headquarters of his Akhali party, which is part of the 4th Change Coalition, just off Tbilisi’s main street, Gvaramiya told reporters alongside Elen Khoshtariya, founder of the Droa party: “Russia hacked the (Georgian) elections.”

Moscow, they claimed, was waging a “hybrid war” with new and different means of technical intervention, straight out of “Putin’s playbook.”

The West, they say, is not even catching up.

Meanwhile, the Georgian government has announced that its first high-ranking post-election visitor will be Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who plans to spend October 28 and 29 in a high-profile show of support for the Georgian Dream government.

The illiberal leader found common ground with Georgia’s ruling party and was the first international leader to congratulate them after the election – before the official vote count.

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