The ruling Georgian Dream party won 53 percent of the vote in Georgia’s parliamentary elections with 70 percent of polling stations counted, official election results showed, the Central Election Commission said, Reuters reported.
The vote is a bet on whether the former Soviet republic will move to the West or return to Russia’s orbit.
According to the spokesperson of the Georgian CEC, Natya Ioseliani, more than 2.06 million people voted in the elections. She announced that the figures of the voters were not certain because it was not possible to get information from five polling stations in the highland areas.
The spokesman of the Georgian CEC said that “the elections were held in a calm and safe environment”, which differs from the assessments of independent observers.
Everyone proved victorious
Shortly before that, the opposition ruling party Georgian Dream and the country’s non-European opposition parties announced at the same time that they had won the parliamentary elections on Saturday.
Exit polls on the outcome of the election gave very different predictions of the results of the vote, with one poll predicting a win for the ruling party and two other polls showing that the opposition would win a majority.
A survey by the “Georgian Dream” – supporting Imedi television shows that the ruling party wins 56%.
At the same time, the exit polls of TV channels against “Formula” and “Mtavari Archi” showed a great success for the opposition parties of the West, which, according to them, together will be a majority in the parliament with 150 a seat
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire and the main force of the ruling party, declared victory.
“This is a rare case in the world where the same party achieves such success in such a difficult situation – this is a good sign of the talent of the Georgian people,” Ivanishvili said a few minutes after the polling stations to close.
“I assure you that our country will prosper in the next four years,” Ivanishvili also said.
The opposition also declared victory and said they expected to win a majority. The first results are expected to be announced soon, according to Reuters.
“European Georgia wins with 52% despite attempts to rig the elections and without the votes of the diaspora,” wrote President Salomeu Zurabishvili on the X social network.
According to the “Formula” exit poll, the ruling party is the largest party, but the four main opposition parties in parliament will have a total of 83 seats.
Serious violations
Parliamentary elections in Georgia were marred by reports of serious violations.
The executive director of Transparency Without Borders – Georgia, Eka Gigauri, and the former ombudsman, Nino Lomdjaria, released a video showing an unknown man filling several votes into the ballot box. The incident took place in constituency No. 69 in the Marneul area. Physical violence was used against the election observer who filmed the breach.
Social media users identified the man with a stack of votes in the video as the deputy chairman of Marneuli Town Council.
A little later, the election results in the 69th polling station in Marneuli were cancelled.
In another segment – #74, unknown persons attacked a representative of the opposition party “Unity – National Movement”. He was beaten when he tried to report irregularities to the members of the electoral commission.
There are several reports that supporters of the pro-Russian party “Georgian Dream” received two ballots each.
The elections will be held for the first time under a full quota system, and to enter parliament the parties must overcome the 5% barrier. 90% of the polling stations have electronic voting.
The opposition forces in Georgia, which were traditionally divided, managed to create a unique front against the ruling party.
The program of the four opposition parties, united in an alliance, envisages major electoral and judicial reforms and the repeal of recently published laws pushed by the ruling party that have generated controversy and criticism.
Georgia was rocked by Russia’s invasion during a brief war in 2008. Russia then deployed military bases in Georgia’s two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which it recognized as states. independent.
Pro-European president Salome Zurabishvili, who cut ties with the government, explained the situation in an October interview with France Press:
“It will be a kind of quasi-referendum on the choice between Europe or a return to an uncertain Russian era.”
Then Brussels canceled Georgia’s EU accession process and the US imposed sanctions on Georgian officials accused of authorizing the brutal crackdown on protests.
