After parliamentary elections – Georgia’s president calls for protest

The opposition in Georgia does not recognize the election results and is calling for protests. Support is coming from the EU, but on the other hand the government is expecting Prime Minister Orban to pay a solidarity visit.

“We are victims of Russia’s hybrid war.” With this, Georgia’s President Salome Zurabishvili opened a statement in the evening on the results of Saturday’s parliamentary election announced by the Central Election Commission.

This had awarded the ruling Georgian Dream party almost 55 percent. The opposition parties that had overcome the five percent hurdle totaled 37 percent.

“Subjugation of Georgia”

Together with important representatives of the opposition, the president declared that the election results would not be recognized. Many citizens were deprived of their right to vote through manipulation.

She compared the actions of the ruling Georgian Dream party with those of Russian leader Vladimir Putin in his country and called the parliamentary election a “Russian election.” Even in the face of Russian propaganda that supported the Georgian Dream election campaign, Zurabishvili spoke of Russian intrusion and Georgia’s subjugation.

Call for protest

Zurabishvili called for a protest against the government on Monday evening on behalf of the opposition. There was recently a pro-European demonstration with thousands of participants a few days before the election.

Since the polls closed on Saturday evening, things had remained quiet in the capital and the country. In the evening, a few people spontaneously came together with EU and Ukrainian flags.

Opposition members do not want to accept mandates

Several opposition politicians such as Elen Koschtaria from the Droa (It’s Time!) party have already declared that they will not take up their parliamentary mandate. The non-party Lascha Bakradze, who joined the Unity alliance around the former ruling party United National Movement, explained this as follows: “We cannot reject the election results and accept the election as representatives at the same time.”

Bakradze is now focusing on isolating the ruling party and hopes for new elections soon. It is important that Saturday’s result is not recognized internationally.

International mediation again?

There is also hope that international actors such as the EU will again act as mediators. After the last parliamentary election in 2020, EU Council President Charles Michel negotiated several times and finally reached a compromise.

Among other things, the ruling party should improve electoral legislation. The opposition MPs who had blocked their mandates should take action in parliament. However, many people, especially those from the former governing party, the United National Movement, did not follow suit, so the mediation was ultimately unsuccessful.

Numerous violations

When asked at a press conference, representatives of the international election observation mission led by the OSCE did not want to explicitly speak of election fraud. However, you had raised a number of problems during the election.

These included intimidation of voters, pressure on government officials, violence against observers and journalists, vote buying and multiple voting using various methods. But they also praised the commitment of the people, which was demonstrated by a high voter turnout and a strong presence of civil society as election observers.

Solidarity visit by Orban

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on the Central Election Commission and other relevant authorities to investigate the irregularities mentioned. Many foreign ministers and members of parliament from EU countries also expressed concern and criticized the ruling party.

In addition to Russia and Azerbaijan, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also congratulated his counterpart Iraqi Kobachidze on his election victory – even before the first numbers from the electoral commission were available.

Orban plans to come to Tbilisi with some of his ministers on Monday evening, around the time the opposition protest is scheduled to begin. On Tuesday, Orban, whose country currently holds the rotating EU Council Presidency, wants to appear in public with Prime Minister Kobachidze, according to information available to Georgian journalists.

The anxious question is whether the ruling party will feel emboldened to use authoritarian methods against the opposition and civil society – the last areas it has not yet taken control of in recent years.