TENS OF THOUSANDS of protesters in Tbilisi took to the streets last night following the most-recent parliamentary elections in Georgia over claims the ruling anti-EU party had falsified the results in its favour.
On Sunday, millions of Georgians went to the polls in what many viewed as the most important election the country has had since it decided to leave the Soviet Union in 1991.
The results of the vote would determine whether the country, where many voters have sought to join the EU for the last decade, pursues its aim of joining the European bloc or remains in Russia’s sphere of influence.
Choices between peace, war and the EU, a major change in electoral systems and years of democratic backsliding preceded Sunday’s election.
But, following the results, the opposition and pro-EU bloc has said there is widespread evidence of voter fraud. Many observing third-party bodies have said they cannot accept the outcome of the election as they do not believe it was a fair vote.
Over two million people were casting their ballot in the parliamentary elections on Sunday.
In the weeks preceding the ballot, Russian-appeasing and ruling party Georgian Dream had framed the elections are a choice between peace and war.
Election posters urged voters to elect Georgian Dream parliamentarians by comparing images of war-torn Ukraine with present-day Georgia and claiming that its party members were the only group who could avoid war with Russia.
Opposition leaders claimed the posters were fear-mongering and were claiming Russia would invade Georgia if voters decided to support pro-West ideas – similar reasons that Russia cited when launching its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Despite claiming for years that it is in favour of EU accession, Georgian Dream has not taken action to move towards such while it has been in power. The party has also become more controlling and autocratic and has treated Russia with light-touch diplomacy.
There have also been widespread concerns over years of democratic backsliding, lapses in and an absence of media freedom and safety and heavy-handed policing against pro-EU and pro-West protesters.
Opposition parties have claimed they did so to please Russia in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has also illegally occupied provinces of Georgia for years. Members of opposition branches claim the Kremlin has influenced many of the party’s leaders as a result of the occupation and the threat of a full-scale invasion.
The EU paused membership talks with Georgia after Georgian Dream attempted to introduce a Russian-like ‘foreign influence’ law – which sought to ban foreign monetary investment to media companies and NGOs.
EU leaders highlighted its concerns over the direction of the party at the time and massive protests erupted on the streets.
Proportional representation was also being used in the electoral system for the very first time. This change, mandated in 2017, was what largely drove the four-party alliance to form a pro-EU group and keep Georgian Dream out of power.
Under the new system, each parliamentarian had to receive at least 5% of the vote to be elected. According to pre-election polling, Georgian Dream was supported by at least 35% of voters.
Speaking before the election Ketevan Chachava, a Georgian academic and a fellow of democratic resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington D.C, said the election was going to be “competitive” as over 19 parties who submitted candidates.
With the increased competition, and the possibility that parliamentarians would be forced to form a coalition to establish a Government for the first time in the country’s history, parties had to work hard to form these alliances, Chachava said.
During the campaign, opposition parties created a pro-EU alliance and were seeking to dismantle Georgian Dream’s influence and bring the Gregorian government in line with the democratic west.
No party said it would form a coalition with Georgian Dream.
The alliance framed the elections as a decision between the EU or continued democratic backsliding.
The group had recieved support from younger voters and the pro-West, progressive President Salome Zurabishvili.
Despite this, however, Georgian Dream were largely expected to win and within hours hours of the first ballots being counted they claimed victory.
Three exit polls were published just minutes after the vote ended. Two of them said that Georgian Dream had won between 40-42% of the vote, putting an end to its ambition to form the next Government.
One exit poll suggested that the ruling party had won 56% of the vote.
Both Georgian Dream and the opposition began celebrating the results of the different polls and using them to claim victory.
After the count, however, Georgian Dream secured 54% of the vote – or 89 seats in parliament – and were able to form a majority government as the opposition parties cried foul.
As votes were being counted, reports emerged of incidents where voters had stuffed multiple ballots into one voting box around the country. Some of these incidents were were captured on camera.
Others alleged they had been threatened or bribed to vote for Georgian Dream.
WeVote, a group of transparency and civil rights NGOs, has said it cannot support the results of the election and said the election had not been conducted in a fair and transparent manner.
Additionally, the President – whose role is very similar to Ireland’s – alleged ‘sophisticated’ voting fraud took place in parliamentary elections.
The Head of the European Parliament observation delegation Antonio López-Istúriz White backed up these claims.
He said the MEPs witnessed instances where voters’ ID had been confiscated, restricting their ability to vote at polling stations and that there was evidence that newly-established public institutions had been used for canvassing purposes during the campaign by Georgian Dream.
The Spanish MEP said the actions of the party in the run up to the election “paint a clear picture of a sophisticated, widespread and well-orchestrated scheme”.
The EU has largely rejected the outcome of the election.
Among them is Ireland’s EU minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill who, in a joint statement with her European counterparts, condemned any violations of international norms for free and fair elections that were identified in the campaign.
Joint Statement of 13 🇪🇺 Ministers on the situation in #Georgia. 🇬🇪👇🏼
— Benjamin Haddad (@benjaminhaddad) October 28, 2024
We are deeply concerned about the current situation in Georgia. International observers reported violations during the election campaign as well as on election day. We condemn all violation of international…
Opposition parties are pointing to the two opinion polls that suggested they had won as evidence fraud took place, claiming that the international companies that organised that polling have long-standing reputations for accurate data.
Groups have called for a recount at around 14% of polling stations, some of which got underway this afternoon.
Defying the EU’s concerns over the vote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – current holder of the bloc’s rotating presidency and who has been embroiled in controversies with the EU - arrived in Tbilisi and hailed the vote as democratic.
Orbán batted away protestors and claimed the EU was not accepting the vote because conservatives had won the poll. While the EU will work to reign in its rogue leader, the US could consider sanctions of Georgian Dream over the election.
Shortly after the protests over the foreign-influence law in May, Washington imposed sanctions on some of the party members over democratic concerns and alleged links with Russia.
If voter fraud is found to have taken place, as a result of the recounts or by one of the many final reports by the hundreds of election observers currently in Tbilisi, it is likely tougher restrictions could be agreed upon.
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