Legislative elections: after the victory claimed by the government, Georgia moves away from the EU

Georgia's ruling party has claimed ;eacute; a contested victory in Saturday's legislative elections, which would distance this Caucasian country from joining the European Union and bring it closer to Moscow, according to the pro-Western opposition.

The Georgian Dream is leading with 53.03% of the vote, well ahead of a coalition of four pro-European movements that together won a total of 38.26% of the vote, according to partial official results from just over 70% of polling stations.

“We do not recognize the rigged results of stolen elections,” Tina Bokoutchava, head of the United National Movement (UNM), one of the four parties in the opposition coalition, said at a press conference on Saturday night.

Denouncing “a usurpation of power and a constitutional coup d'état”, Nika Gvaramia, leader of the Akhali party, assured that the opposition had “deciphered the scheme of falsification” of the vote.

The opposition accuses the Georgian Dream party, which has been in power since 2012, of pro-Russian authoritarianism and of distancing Georgia from the EU and NATO, which it also aims to join.

Tina Bokutchava, leader of the United National Movement, one of the four parties in Georgia's pro-European opposition coalition, speaks after elections in Tbilisi on October 26, 2024 © AFP – Vano SHLAMOV

“As the results released by the central election commission show, the Georgian Dream has secured a solid majority” in the new parliament, the party's executive secretary, Mamuka Mdinaradze, told reporters.

Depending on the results, it could count on about 90 of the 150 seats.

The government said before the vote that it wanted to win three-quarters of the seats in parliament, which would put it in a position to amend the constitution and, under its plan, ban pro-Western opposition parties.

– Under the eye of Brussels –

Brussels has warned that Georgia's chances of joining the EU will depend on elections in the former Soviet republic in the Caucasus, which has enshrined the aspiration in its constitution.

Georgia was rocked in May by mass protests against a “foreign influence” law, modelled on Russian “foreign agents” legislation that has been used to crush civil society.

Brussels has frozen Georgia's EU accession process and the United States has imposed sanctions on Georgian officials.

Bidzina Ivanishvili (R), founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, delivers a speech alongside Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze (L), at their campaign headquarters following the parliamentary elections in Tbilisi, October 26, 2024 © AFP – Giorgi ARJEVANIDZE

Another cause of tensions with the West: the recent promulgation of a law severely restricting the rights of LGBT+ people in this country of Orthodox Christian tradition where hostility towards sexual minorities remains strong.

The only foreign leader to react on Saturday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the only EU leader who has remained close to Moscow, hailed the ruling party's “crushing” victory.

Monitored by international observers, the vote was marked by several incidents, widely relayed online, such as this video of a fight in a polling station in Tbilisi or scuffles at the headquarters of the United National Movement.

Images appearing to show ballot stuffing in Sadakhlo, a village in the east, were widely shared by the opposition. The electoral commission has cancelled the ballots in this office.

Support for the ruling Georgian Dream party after the parliamentary elections in Tbilisi, October 26, 2024 © AFP – Giorgi ARJEVANIDZE

Tina Bokoutchava, leader of the United National Movement, accused the “thugs” of the Georgian Dream during the day of “clinging to power” and “undermining the electoral process”, remarks rejected by this party led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

The United National Movement is the party of the imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, sworn enemy of Mr. Ivanishvili.

– “Ukrainization” –

Some leaders of the Georgian Dream are very critical of Westerners. Bidzina Ivanishvili called them a “world war party” that would treat Georgia, its victim, as “cannon fodder.”

This country on the Black Sea remains deeply scarred by a brief war in 2008 with the Russian army.

After it, Russia set up military bases in two Georgian separatist regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose unilaterally proclaimed independence it recognized.

In this context, the Georgian Dream campaigned by presenting itself as the only one capable of preventing a supposed “Ukrainization” of Georgia.

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