Georgia in the chaos, the Pro-Russian ruling party claims victory bad pro-EU oppositions they are not happy and are rebelling. The tension, even after the vote, remains very high. In fact “Georgian Dream”, the party in power in Georgia for 12 years, wins the elections again with 53% of the votes e Defeats the pro-European coalition which stops at around 40 percent. The result, still unofficial, is however contested by the leaders of two opposition parties who they do not recognize the triumph to the pro-Russian party. “Victory was stolen from the Georgian people,” they said Tina Bokuchava e Nika Gvaramio, leaders respectively of the Coalition for Change and Unity, two of the opposition forces that had allied themselves ahead of the vote.
Georgia Elections: Here's What Happened After the Vote
The clear advantage of 'Georgian Dream' was announced by the Central Election Commission of Tbilisi after the exit polls had shown diametrically opposite data: according to the findings of independent institutes broadcast by TV channels close to the opposition a few minutes after the closing of the polls, the pro-European forces had obtained over 52%, conquering the absolute majority. A figure that had led the Georgian president herself, the pro-European Salome Zourabichvili, to state that "European Georgia wins with 52% despite the attempts to rig the elections and without the votes of the diaspora". However, before the closing of the polls, Zourabichvili had denounced acts of violence “deeply concerning” on the sidelines of voting procedures, speaking of “violent and deeply concerning incidents occurring at various polling stations.”
Georgia Elections, Results Overturned: Pro-Russians Lead
Shortly after, however, the TV channel close to the government released other exit polls which have completely overturned the situation by giving the ruling party the lead. A finding that will be confirmed later by official data: according to the Georgian Election Commission, when more than 70% of the polling stations have been counted, the governing party is in the lead with 53%. The first (and so far only) European leader to rejoice at the victory of the pro-Russian party is Hungarian Viktor Orbán, who, coincidentally, just minutes before the polls closed, congratulated the leaders of “Georgian Dream” and spoke of a “landslide victory”.
“Georgian Dream”: Who is behind the pro-Russian party
“Georgian Dream”, founded in 2012 byoligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, Putin's personal friend, whose personal wealth is estimated at around 7,4 billion dollarsalmost a quarter of the entire national GDP, will therefore continue to govern the country, while the four main pro-EU parties united under the umbrella of the “Charter for Georgia”, despite all having passed the 5% threshold, will remain in opposition. The vote, which took place in a tense, polarized and violent climate, had been presented by the opposition as the most important electoral step in the country's history since 1991, when Georgians decided to become independent from Moscow. According to the pro-EU parties, the victory of “Georgian Dream” will bring Tbilisi even closer to the Kremlin's sphere of influence, distancing it from Europe. Tbilisi's accession process to the EU had been suspended at the beginning of the year by Brussels after the ruling party had approved, amid street protests, the law on “foreign agents”, inspired by Moscow's legislation and therefore nicknamed “Russian law”.
Georgia Elections, Votes Recounted by Hand: Why?
Another fact: According to the Central Election Commission of Georgia, which manually recounted the ballots from more than 40% of polling stations, “Georgian Dream” received 59,1% of the votes in the parliamentary elections. The electronic voting data attributed 53% of the votes to the pro-Russian party, but the votes counted electronically must be recalculated manually to be legally valid. “Georgian Dream” thus received more than 364 thousand votes, the Commission reports after the manual recounting of the ballots. All the main opposition parties exceeded the 5% threshold: “Unity – National Movement” (9,9%), “Coalition for Change” (9,3%), “Strong Georgia” (7,6%) and “For Georgia” (6,4%).
Georgia, reactions to the “rigged elections”
“The apparent falsification of the election results in Georgia makes it impossible to recognize their legitimacy. By rigging the elections, it is not possible to become a member of the European Union, but only to end up back in the arms of Russia,” said the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, Marko Mihkelson, in a message published tonight on his X profile.
After Georgia: Where to vote now
In the context of the war between Ukraine and Russia, the end of which is not in sight, after the legislative elections in Georgia, the Second round of Lithuanian elections, Early elections in Bulgaria and Members of Parliament in Uzbekistan. All electoral rounds that threaten to be influenced by Moscow. In any case, they represent crucial tests for the former Soviet republics because they still have the ability to measure their degree of independence and the attraction exerted by the European Union on the two countries that are not part of it.
