Controversial victory for the ruling party in Georgia

The final results of the controversial legislative elections held at the end of October in Georgia confirmed the victory of the ruling party, the Electoral Commission of this Caucasian country announced on Saturday, where the opposition denounced a “stolen” vote while the West called for investigations.

The ruling Georgian Dream party won 53.93% of the vote against 37.79% for an alliance of opposition parties, according to the final results communicated by the Commission.

The Georgian Dream, in business since 2012, is accused by its detractors of pro-Russian authoritarian drift and of wanting to distance Georgia from the European Union, which it refutes.

The opposition accused the government of buying votes in the October 26 vote and subjecting voters to pressure, particularly in sparsely populated areas, among other methods.

Hundreds of opposition supporters gathered this Saturday in front of the headquarters of the Electoral Commission in the capital Tbilisi. This is the latest gathering in a series of demonstrations held since the vote, which have sometimes brought together thousands of people.

The commission session was briefly disrupted when an opposition representative threw what appeared to be black paint in the face of the body’s president, Guiorgui Kalandarichvili, before the results were announced.

President accuses Moscow of interference

On Monday, the Georgian president, Salomé Zourabichvili, breaking with the government, called for a new election to be held. “Today we are facing a crisis,” she assured, affirming that it is necessary to organize “new elections so that Georgia can have a legitimate Parliament, a legitimate government”.

The president, who has limited powers, also accuses Moscow of interference, which the Kremlin rejects. After the announcement of the results, she denounced a sophisticated system of fraud following a “Russian methodology”, but then refused to respond to a summons from the prosecution to detail these accusations.

In early November, a polling institute and an election observer organization said analysis of the results suggested widespread fraud. Washington and Brussels, who were concerned about “irregularities”, requested investigations.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said Monday that the ruling party was considering banning opposition parties “if they persist in committing acts that violate the Constitution.”

After the vote, he assured that the elections had been “entirely fair”, before promising that “European integration” remained Tbilisi’s “main priority”. Membership of the EU, like that of NATO, is included in the Georgian constitution. The European Union had made this election a test in the perspective of this accession.

After the promulgation in the spring of a law “on foreign influence” inspired by Russian legislation which the Kremlin uses to muzzle civil society and the opposition, Brussels froze the accession process as a form of protest. A recently passed law that restricts the rights of LGBT+ people is another reason for discord with the EU.

Some leaders of the Georgian Dream, including its leader, the powerful and wealthy Bidzina Ivanishvili, have increased their hostile declarations towards the West.

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