The Georgian leader expresses doubts about the elections

TBILISI, Georgia. Georgia’s president said on Sunday that she does not recognize the results of this weekend’s parliamentary elections, which election officials said were won by the ruling party, adding that the country was the victim of a “Russian special operation” aimed at displacing her. the way to Europe.

Standing alongside opposition leaders, President Salome Zurabishvili called on Georgians to rally on Monday night on Tbilisi’s main street to protest what she called a “total falsification, a total theft of your votes,” raising the prospect of further political upheaval in the South Caucasus country. .

She said the day after an election that could decide whether Georgia joins Europe or falls under Russian rule.

“These elections cannot be recognized because it is recognition of Russia’s invasion here, subordination of Georgia to Russia,” Zurabishvili said.

The Central Election Commission reported on Sunday that the ruling Georgian Dream party won 54.8% of the vote on Saturday after almost 100% of the ballots were counted.

Over the past year, Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian, passing laws similar to those used by Russia to stifle free speech. Brussels suspended Georgia’s EU membership process indefinitely due to a Russian-style “external influence law” passed in June. Many Georgians viewed Saturday’s vote as a referendum on the possibility of joining the European Union.

The election campaign in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people, which borders Russia, has been influenced by foreign policy and marked by a fierce battle for votes and allegations of a smear campaign.

Zurabishvili suggested that “Russian elections” took place in the country and said that “technology was used to whiten the fake. This has never happened before.”

European election monitors said the election took place in a “divisive” environment marked by intimidation and incidents of vote-buying, double voting and physical violence.

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

“Paradoxically, the government continued to claim that it was continuing Georgia’s European integration,” he added.

Conducting polls, he said, is another proof that the ruling party is “retreating from democracy.”

European Council President Charles Michel said he called on Georgian officials to “quickly, transparently and independently investigate” election irregularities and called on the ruling party to demonstrate its “firm commitment” to the EU.

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

Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was the first foreign leader to welcome the Georgian Dream and will be the first foreign leader to visit Georgia and meet the prime minister when he visits the capital on Monday and Tuesday.

Georgian election observers, who were stationed across the country, also reported numerous irregularities and said the results did not reflect “the will of the Georgian people.”

In the capital Tbilisi, 32-year-old Tiko Gelashvili said: “The published results are just lies and falsification.”

Initial data indicated that turnout was the highest since Georgian Dream was first elected in 2012.

The opposition United National Movement party said its headquarters were attacked on Saturday, and Georgian media reported that two people were hospitalized after an attack near polling stations.

“The most important question is whether the international community will recognize these elections,” said Natia Seskuria, executive director of the Tbilisi-based Regional Institute for Security Studies. According to her, Georgia’s “economic and political prospects” depend on the elections.

Georgians have a difficult relationship with Russia, which ruled it from Moscow until Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, and Moscow still occupies 20% of Georgia.

Despite this, Georgian Dream has adopted Russian-style laws, and many Georgians fear that the government is alienating the country from the West and falling into Moscow’s orbit.

According to observers, cases of intimidation and election violations were particularly noticeable in rural areas.

Georgian Dream won the largest share of the vote — nearly 90 percent — in the Javakheti region of southern Georgia, 83 miles west of the capital. In Tbilisi, she won no more than 44% of the vote in any district.

Javakhetia is mainly agricultural and many people are ethnic Armenians who speak Armenian, Russian and limited Georgian. Before the election, AP visited a region where voters invited local officials to instruct them on how to vote. Some questioned why Georgia needed relations with Europe, and suggested that it would be better off to unite with Moscow.

Sofiko Megrelidze and Raf Casert of the Associated Press reported for this article.