Wednesday06 November 2024
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Fights at polling stations, attacks on the opposition, and protest announcements. How the elections in Georgia unfolded, with results that not everyone acknowledges.

On October 26, parliamentary elections took place in Georgia, featuring a contest between the ruling party "Georgian Dream," which has been in power for 12 years, and several opposition forces.
Драки на участках, нападения на оппозицию и анонсы протестов: итоги выборов в Грузии, результаты которых не все готовы признать.
Сторонница оппозиционной партии держит флаг Грузии после закрытия избирательных участков

So what are the results?

A total of 18 parties participated in the voting. However, according to the results of the count of over 99% of the ballots, only five of them crossed the 5% threshold, including the ruling party, "Georgian Dream," which garnered more than 54% of the votes.

The opposition forces collectively received over 37% of the votes: "Coalition for Change" — 10.8%, "Strong Georgia" coalition — 8.76%, "Unity — National Movement" — 10.1%, and "Gakharia — for Georgia" — 7.75%.

At the same time, in the capital Tbilisi and abroad, "Georgian Dream" lost the elections. The party did not achieve 50% at any polling station in Tbilisi, and only 17.7% of Georgians voted for it at overseas polling stations.

It is noteworthy that prior to the elections, opinion polls indicated support for "Georgian Dream" at around 34-35%. Although a poll commissioned by the pro-government TV channel "Imedi" showed much higher figures — 60%.

The head of the Central Election Commission of Georgia, Giorgi Kaladze, stated that "we can confidently say that the elections took place." According to him, this happened "in a calm and free environment," although several high-profile incidents related to the elections occurred on voting day.

Fights and attacks on the opposition

The executive director of the public organization Transparency International Georgia, Eka Gigauri, published a video showing how an unknown man at a polling station in the city of Marneuli threw a whole pack of ballots into the ballot box.

The violator turned out to be the deputy head of the Marneuli administration — a representative of the "Georgian Dream" party. Later, the political force claimed that their representative had been bribed by the opposition.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has already initiated a criminal case due to the ballot stuffing, and voting at the polling station in Marneuli was halted.

At another polling station in this city, a brawl broke out between representatives of the opposition and other individuals. During this incident, the head of the local organization of the opposition "United National Movement," Azad Kerimov, was beaten and accused a representative of the Marneuli City Council from "Georgian Dream" of the assault.

Fights also occurred in other locations across Georgia, particularly in Tbilisi. According to a member of the Tbilisi City Council from the opposition "United National Movement," Irakli Edzgveradze, the situation at one of the capital's polling stations escalated after a government activist from "Georgian Dream," Shako Kuchashvili, arrived and attempted to provoke unrest.

In Tbilisi, there was also an attack on the central office of the opposition force "United National Movement," which again blamed supporters of the ruling "Georgian Dream." According to "Echo of the Caucasus," several people broke into the courtyard of the building and engaged in a verbal dispute and physical confrontation with members of the opposition party.

The country's president, Salome Zurabishvili, stated that "violent actions" occurred in various regions of the country, including damage to media equipment. She also mentioned that she could not reach the Minister of Internal Affairs and his deputy.

"Dream" celebrates victory, while the opposition denies it

Before the first official results were announced, exit polls from opposition channels "Mtavari" and "Formula" indicated that "Georgian Dream" received less than 50% of the votes, while the opposition allegedly secured a majority in parliament.

At the same time, the exit poll from the pro-government channel "Imedi," on the contrary, indicated that the majority of seats belonged to "Georgian Dream."

Without waiting for the results, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze declared the ruling party's victory. A festive stage was even set up near the main office. Subsequently, official data confirmed Kobakhidze's confidence: after counting more than 70% of the votes, "Georgian Dream" received about 53%.

The opposition political forces announced that they would not recognize the results of the parliamentary elections in the country and announced protests. According to the leader of the "Coalition for Change," Nika Gvaramia, the ruling party is staging a constitutional coup.

In "Georgian Dream," they responded to the announcement of protests, stating that the opposition is "incapable of orchestrating a coup or revolution in the country."

President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili, relying on data from opposition exit polls, declared the victory of "European Georgia." According to her, "despite attempts to falsify the elections and without the votes of the diaspora," the opposition forces received a total of 52% of the votes.

"Georgia demonstrated democracy, European values, and maturity... I am proud and confident in our European future!"quoted her "Echo of the Caucasus."

Concerns of observers

A total of 23,133 observers from 101 local organizations and 1,713 observers from 64 international organizations were present at the Georgian elections, according to the CEC. In total, their number reached 25,000 individuals.

The joint observation mission of Georgian public organizations "My Voice" reported "serious and significant violations," which, according to them, aimed to "undermine the final results of the elections."

"It turned out that a complex scheme for election falsification was developed, utilizing methods such as disrupting the verification system, violating marking procedures, and obstructing observers from monitoring the voter identification processes. In the first half of the day, voters were mass issued two or more ballots. There were also instances where ballots had already been taken in favor of the ruling party,"stated the assessments of "My Voice."

They also reported "unprecedented pressure on representatives of monitoring organizations" — physical assaults, verbal abuse, intimidation, and removal from polling stations. According to them, this allowed "Georgian Dream" to secure the majority of votes.

Consequently, observers believe that the results published by the Central Election Commission "do not reflect the will of the citizens of Georgia."

Another observer organization, "Honest Elections" (ISFED), also recorded violations. For instance, at 26% of polling stations within a 100-meter radius, "suspicious gatherings of people" were observed, and at another 15% of polling stations, voter transportation was organized, quoted JAM News.

What’s next?

"Georgian Dream" has already been congratulated on its victory by some world leaders. Among them is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. According to him, the "convincing victory" of the ruling party indicates that Georgians "know what is best for their country."

The public broadcaster of Georgia also disseminated greetings from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who believes that the election results show that the citizens of Georgia "expressed their support for development, stability, and traditional values." He also invited the Georgian Prime Minister to visit the country, quoted "Echo of the Caucasus."

Kobakhidze himself stated that the parliament will begin its work soon and will approve a new government. According to him, the opposition "has no resources at all," as the victory of "Georgian Dream" is supposedly "so remarkable and obvious that all attempts to speak about election manipulation [...] are doomed to failure."