 "From left, Nika Melia, Nika Gvaramia, leaders of Coalition for Changes, and Nana Malashkhia, who leads the Coalition for Change parliament list, react while talking to journalists at coalition's headquarters after polls closing at the parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Image- AP")
EU chief Charles Michel on Sunday urged electoral authorities in Georgia to swiftly investigate alleged electoral irregularities, after the ruling party declared victory in a vote decried by the opposition as “falsified”.
A group of international observers said the vote was “marred by an uneven playing field, pressure and tension”, with a mission from the EU parliament saying it had seen instances of “ballot box stuffing” and the “physical assault” of observers.
Georgia’s jailed ex-president and opposition leader Mikheil Saakashvili, who spearheaded the bloodless Rose Revolution in 2003, called on Sunday for mass anti-government protests following disputed elections.
“Certainly, no one should enter parliament! Now is the time for mass protests. We must show the world that we are fighting for freedom and that we are a people who will not tolerate injustice,” he said on Facebook.
The European Union had earlier warned that Saturday’s vote, seen as a crucial test of democracy in the Caucasus country, would determine Tbilisi’s chances of joining the bloc.
Noting the preliminary assessments, Michel called on Georgia’s central election commission “and other relevant authorities to fulfil their duty to swiftly, transparently and independently investigate and adjudicate electoral irregularities and allegations thereof”.
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View All“These alleged irregularities must be seriously clarified and addressed,” the European Council president wrote on social media platform X.
Georgia’s ruling party won nearly 54% of the vote in Saturday’s parliamentary election, the electoral commission said on Sunday, as opposition parties disputed the result and vote monitors reported significant violations.
The result, with almost all precincts counted, was a blow for pro-Western Georgians who had cast the election as a choice between a ruling party that has deepened ties with Russia and an opposition aiming to fast-track integration with Europe.
Ruling Georgian Dream, now headed for a fourth term in office, will take 89 seats in parliament, one less than it secured in 2020, the commission said, with four pro-Western opposition parties receiving 61 seats in total.
A series of violations were reported on Sunday by three separate monitoring missions - the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), another comprising two U.S. nonprofit groups - the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute, and a Georgian election monitor, ISFED.
The groups said the alleged violations, including ballot-stuffing, bribery, voter intimidation and violence near polling stations, could have affected the result but stopped short of calling the outcome fraudulent.
“We continue to express deep concerns about the democratic backsliding in Georgia,” said Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White, head of the European Parliament’s delegation to the OSCE mission.
“The conduct of yesterday’s election is unfortunately evidence to that effect,” he told reporters.
With inputs from agencies.