In Georgia, the opposition calls for new protests

Photo: Giorgi Arjevanidze Agence France-Presse With European and Georgian flags flying, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tbilisi on Monday to denounce a vote that they said was “stolen”.

Irakli Metreveli – Agence France-Presse in Tbilisi

Published at 6:47 AM Updated at 3:11 PM

• Europe

The pro-European opposition in Georgia called for new rallies on Thursday to denounce the disputed results of the parliamentary elections won by the ruling party and whose victory was confirmed by the electoral commission.

Ukraine declared for its part that it supported “in all circumstances” Tbilisi towards membership in the EU and NATO. The ruling party, Georgian Dream, has been accused of pro-Russian authoritarianism and of moving Georgia away from these two goals, which are enshrined in its constitution.

At a press conference on Thursday, several Georgian opposition parties said they had “serious evidence of large-scale [election] fraud.”

They have once again called for new elections, an international investigation into the alleged fraud, and have announced a demonstration on Monday at which they will reveal a “detailed action plan.”

“It is our common duty to go to the streets and take back control of the future of our country,” Elene Khochtaria of the Coalition for Change party told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the electoral commission confirmed the ruling party's victory in the parliamentary elections after a partial recount.

The recount of about 12% of polling stations and 14% of ballots “did not result in any significant change to the previously announced official results,” the electoral commission told AFP.

It thus confirms the large lead of Georgian Dream, in power since 2012, against an opposition coalition. According to the almost final official results, the former is credited with 53.9% of the votes, against 37.7% for the latter.

Surveys requested by Washington and the EU

The opposition coalition accuses Georgian Dream of having “stolen” the vote, of wanting to call into question the membership of the European Union of this former Soviet Caucasian republic.

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Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who believes on the contrary that the elections were “entirely fair, free, competitive and clean”, promised that “European integration” remained Tbilisi’s “main priority”.

After initially announcing the victory of the pro-European opposition on the basis of exit polls, President Salome Zurabishvili, who has broken with the government, refused to recognize that of the Georgian Dream, and denounced a “sophisticated” system of fraud following “a Russian methodology”.

With European and Georgian flags flying, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Tbilisi on Monday to denounce a vote they said was rigged.

Summoned by the prosecutor's office as part of the investigation launched into this “alleged falsification” of the vote, Ms. Zurabishvili announced on Wednesday that she had “no intention” of going.

The Georgian Interior Ministry announced the arrest of two people suspected of stuffing a ballot box in a provincial polling station. The prosecutor's office has opened 47 legal cases for alleged violations of electoral law.

The opposition party Strong Georgia sees these investigations as a bluff, and has mocked a “Russian-controlled prosecutor's office.”

The Kremlin has rejected accusations of interference in Georgia's electoral process. Washington and Brussels, which have expressed concern about “irregularities,” have called for investigations.

In its annual report on enlargement published Wednesday, the European Commission warned that it would be “unable to recommend the opening of accession negotiations” unless Georgia “changes course.”

Read also

• Election observers recount anomalies observed Saturday in Georgia
• In Georgia, thousands of demonstrators denounce “stolen” legislative elections
• European Union calls for investigation into possible electoral fraud in Georgia

“Brutal repression”

After the enactment in the spring of a “foreign influence” law inspired by Russian legislation that the Kremlin uses to muzzle civil society and the opposition, Brussels froze the accession process in protest.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Georgian officials for their “brutal repression” of the protests that followed.

A law restricting the rights of LGBT people is another source of discord with the EU.

Some leaders of the Georgian Dream, including its leader, the powerful and wealthy Bidzina Ivanishvili, have issued numerous hostile statements against the West.

During the campaign, his party presented itself as the only one capable of preventing Georgia from suffering the same fate as Ukraine, against a backdrop of Russo-Western rivalries.

This country of four million inhabitants, bordering the Black Sea, remains deeply scarred by a brief war in 2008 with the Russian army.

At the end of this conflict, Russia, a historic power in the region, set up military bases in two Georgian separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose unilaterally proclaimed independence it recognized.