According to the official data of the Central Election Commission of Georgia, after processing 99.3 per cent of ballots, the ruling Georgian Dream gained 54.2 per cent of votes. The opposition Coalition for Change gained 10.8 per cent, Unity – National Movement – 10.1 per cent, Strong Georgia – 8.8 per cent and Gakharia – for Georgia – 7.8 per cent.
The elections in Georgia are a question of the future course of the country, writes Neue Zürcher Zeitung. A fierce struggle between pro-European and pro-Russian positions was expected in advance. Both the ruling Georgian Dream party of the country’s richest and most influential man, Bidzina Ivanishvili, and the pro-European opposition are claiming victory.
Non-governmental organisations have complained of hundreds of election irregularities, with the OSCE set to announce the verdict of its 500 observers today.
Georgia has been a candidate for EU accession since the end of 2023. However, the accession process is on hold due to controversial laws. The traditionally divided opposition, which has formed several electoral alliances, fears that Georgia, under the leadership of the oligarch Ivanishvili, who got rich in Moscow, will turn even more towards its big neighbour Russia and finally abandon its EU accession course.
Ivanishvili declared himself the winner shortly after the polls closed at a celebration with his supporters and fireworks in Tbilisi when there were still no meaningful results.
Pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili, who is close to the opposition, said after the first projections were published that parties seeking EU membership had won 52 per cent of the vote. She referred to post-election polls by the US-based Edison Institute, which predicted a defeat for the ruling party.
Pro-Western opposition alliances do not recognise the official results and want to fight for victory. Although they are at odds with each other, they are united by the goal of getting rid of 68-year-old billionaire Ivanishvili and taking an EU-friendly course.
According to Tinatin Bokuchava, leader of former President Saakashvili’s United National Movement party, the election commission leadership was only obeying Ivanishvili’s orders. The action plan of the government’s opponents will be co-ordinated.
‘The elections were stolen from the opposition. This is a constitutional coup and abuse of power. The elections were rigged according to a complex technological scheme,’ said Nika Gvaramia of the Coalition for Change.
Hundreds of election observers from dozens of different non-governmental organisations were deployed in the country. The preliminary election results do not reflect the will of the voters, according to a statement by MyVote, a pro-European NGO alliance, which was also distributed by Transparency International’s Georgian branch. Election law experts had already complained in advance about the ruling party’s misuse of state resources.
According to preliminary data, turnout was around 59 per cent – three percentage points higher than in the last election in 2020.