Update from Tbilisi on disputed results of parliamentary elections in Georgia

Elections in Georgia, held in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine, have turned into a political crisis amid reports of vote-rigging and accusations of Kremlin meddling.

The ruling Georgian Dream party won a parliamentary majority in a controversial vote on Saturday that international observers and opposition parties said was full of intimidation and fraud.

Opposition leaders, who have vowed to restore relations between the West and Ukraine, hit by the illiberal “Georgian Dream” transition, called for mass protests on Tuesday night to condemn the vote. after

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, the president of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, who accused “Georgian Dream” of moving into Moscow’s orbit, compared the charges falsifications to the “Russian special operation”.

Main opposition leaders declared victory and suggested that they would give up their seats in parliament in order to deprive the “Georgian Dream” of political legitimacy. Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire oligarch who heads the ruling party, promised earlier in the campaign to ban the main opposition parties.

Monitoring missions from the United States and the European Union over the weekend reported widespread fraud during Saturday’s vote, including intimidation, vote bribery and the confiscation of voter IDs.

Eoghan Murphy, head of delegation at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s observer mission, said pressure from Georgian Dream during and around the election had “raised concerns” about whether voters would be able to “vote without fear”.

Public sector workers and people on welfare were particularly targeted, according to the report, which looked at pressures on vulnerable groups in 16 different municipalities.

According to Giorgi Melashvili, founder and president of the Georgia-Europe Institute in Tbilisi, the ruling party has particularly used the way voters verify their identity at polling stations to falsify votes.

For example, it is said that representatives of “Georgian Dream” voted several times, entering identification codes of citizens who did not plan to participate in the vote, Melashvili noted.

Melashvili described the stunt as a “digital carousel,” drawing a parallel to a scheme made infamous by Russian President Vladimir Putin that involves rotating voters between polling stations for multiple votes.

For Melashvili, the illiberal tactics of the ruling party reflect the growing influence of Russia.

“This is a government that does everything that Russia demands of it,” said Melashvili. “Is this freedom? Is it sovereignty? Definitely not.”

As the Georgian Dream warmed to relations with the Kremlin after Moscow invaded Ukraine two years ago, Ivanishvili regularly suggested to his opponents that he hoped to use Georgia to open a second front in the conflict.

The billionaire, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, united his opponents in the controversial “Global War Party” during a campaign to present the election as a choice between war and peace.

Kyiv recalled its ambassador two years ago after Georgia refused to take a firm stance on Russia. In September, the Foreign Office condemned an ad campaign that depicted the country’s bombed-out churches, towns and buses in black and white alongside images of colorful images of Georgian infrastructure.

In return, the opposition leaders promised to restart relations with Ukraine.

Tina Bokuchava, leader of the opposition United National Movement, criticized Ivanishvili on Friday for “choosing the wrong side” in the conflict and promised that the opposition government “will positively participate” in Ukraine’s victory.

“Ukraine is fighting not only for its territorial integrity and freedom, but also for Georgia and the region as a whole,” said Bokuchava, answering Kyiv Post’s questions. “We know that Russia will be defeated in Ukraine, and we know that Ukraine will win.”

When asked by the Kyiv Post whether the opposition government is ready to provide weapons to Ukraine, Bokuchava replied: “This is something that the college government should discuss.”

Zurab Girchi Japaridze, leader of the libertarian party in the opposition Coalition for Change bloc, said he believes Georgia should take a stronger stance against Russia and ban companies that have been hit by international sanctions from operating inside the country.

“We avoided actually calling Russia an aggressor,” Japaridze said. “We have to be more specific.”

At the same time, Japaridze told the Kyiv Post that he opposes sending military aid to Ukraine, citing the need to increase investment in Georgia’s national defense budget.

One of the leaders of the “Coalition for Change” Nika Gvaramiya said after the results of Sunday’s elections that he was ready to take Georgians to the streets to “change the pro-Russian government.”

“If it’s a few days, it’s a few days; in a few months, it will be in a few months,” Gvaramiya told the Kyiv Post. “But there will definitely be a result.”