The President of Georgia asks foreign partners to act against Russia’s “infiltration” of the elections

LONDON — Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili called on international supporters to support the pro-Western opposition, which is preparing for street protests on Monday in response to what she says were rigged results in Saturday’s parliamentary election in favor of the Moscow-oriented Georgian Dream government.

“These elections are illegitimate, and nothing can change that,” Zurabishvili wrote on X shortly after a press conference in the capital, Tbilisi, where she called the alleged vote rigging a “Russian special operation” and “a new form of hybrid.” the war that is being waged against our people and our country.”

“We reject Russia’s infiltration and occupation,” the president wrote on social media, adding that the pro-Western opposition parties that participated in the election “support me to protect our European future and the Georgian Charter.”

Zurabishvili called on Georgians to gather in protest against the election results on Monday evening on Rustaveli Avenue – Tbilisi’s main thoroughfare and home to the country’s parliament – “to peacefully protect every vote and, most importantly, our future.”

“I call on our international partners to protect Georgia, standing on the side of the people, not the illegitimate government,” Zurabishvili added.

The president and the opposition initially reported before the official results that a grand alliance of pro-Western parties had secured more than 50% of the vote late Saturday night.

“European Georgia wins with 52%, despite attempts to falsify the elections and without diaspora votes,” Zurabishvili said during the counting. The opposition complained of at least 160 electoral irregularities in the run-up to the vote, with more reports of abuse on the day of the vote.

But the official results were published by the Center Election The commission said the GD won almost 54% of the vote, while the combined share of the four opposition parties was just under 38%.

The CEC said this would give the GD 89 seats in the 150-seat parliament – one less than it won in the last election in 2020. Four pro-Western opposition parties will get 61 seats together.

International election observers reported “frequent violations of the secrecy of the vote and several procedural inconsistencies, as well as reports of voter intimidation and pressure, which negatively affected public confidence in the process.”

“In general, participants were free to campaign, while the rhetoric and imagery of the campaign was highly divisive,” they added.

“Reports of voter pressure, particularly public sector workers, remained widespread during the campaign. This, along with widespread voter tracking on Election Day, has raised concerns about the ability of some voters to cast their ballots without fear of punishment.”

Alexandre Krevo-Assatiani, a spokesman for the opposition United National Movement party, told ABC News that “everything that happened cannot be legal, even if they hid the real numbers somewhere.”

“These numbers will still not reflect the true will of the Georgian people, because we saw too many cases of voter intimidation, fraud, the secrecy of the vote was not protected anywhere on election day,” he said.

“Another election would be the goal,” Crevo-Assatiani said. “But right now we’re not focusing on claims because Georgian Dream doesn’t really run on claims. We want them to go.”

Georgian Prime Minister Iraklii Kobakhidze, however, welcomed “the decisive elections for our country, where the fate of maintaining peace in our country was decided, and in the end the citizens of Georgia made a single unquestionable choice.”

“They chose peace and development of the country, a bright European future for the country,” Kobakhidze said.

The contest comes after two years of unrest, when pro-Western parties and protesters rallied twice against the GD’s proposed foreign agents bill.

Critics said the law would deal a major blow to Georgia’s European Union and NATO membership ambitions, which remain very popular among the country’s population.

The legislation requires media outlets and non-governmental organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “acting in the interests of a foreign state” and undergo checks or face fines.

Opponents called it the “Russian law,” referring to similar legislation passed by Moscow in 2012 and used to suppress domestic opposition to the Kremlin.

On Monday, Zurabishvili called on Georgia’s Western partners to react. “Just as you stood against the Russian law, we ask you to stand with us again,” she wrote on X.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken released a statement expressing concern about the campaign’s “abuse of public resources, vote-buying and voter intimidation, which contributed to an uneven playing field and undermined public and international confidence in the possibility of a fair outcome. “

“We note reports of violations and sporadic violence,” he added.

“International observers did not declare the result free and fair. We condemn all violations of international norms and join the calls of international and local observers to conduct a full investigation of all reports of election-related violations.”

The High Representative of the EU for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, also called on the Georgian authorities to “fulfill their duty to quickly, transparently and independently investigate and issue a judicial decision regarding the violations and allegations in the elections.”

“These violations must be clarified and eliminated,” he said. “This is a necessary step to restore trust in the electoral process.”

Crevo-Assatiani said the measured statements by Blinken and Borrell were “strange” given the strong US and EU criticism of the GD – and even sanctions against some of its members – in the run-up to the election.

“We should not rule out the explanation that they are now doing everything to convince Georgian Dream to deal with the situation as calmly as possible, as normally as possible, and give Georgian Dream one last chance,” Crevo-Assatiani said.

People’s power, he added, will be the key to international attention.

“We are not pretending that the West will react sharply and then it will lead to a protest,” Crevo-Assatiani said. “It’s the other way around. We know that game with the West.”

“The West only cares about Georgia when hundreds of thousands of people wave the European flag in the streets and get water cannons while waving that flag.”

A joint statement signed by 13 parliamentarians from Europe and Canada expressed more explicit concern, describing the election as “not free and not fair”.

“The European Union cannot accept the result,” they wrote, calling for sanctions against those “guilty of unfair influence on elections, intimidation and threats against the opposition and civil society.”

Among the signatories is People’s Deputy of Ukraine, head of the committee on foreign affairs of this body Oleksandr Merezhko.

“My fear is that Russia may be planning to use the same tactics they used in Georgia in Ukraine in a few years,” Merezhko told ABC News. “Now we are talking about the “Belarusization” of Georgia, and Russia may be planning the “Georgianization” of Ukraine in a few years.”

Still, GD is garnering plaudits from abroad. The leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Hungary applauded the party’s victory shortly after the CEC released its vote tallies.