The Georgian president does not want to recognize the election results

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TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia’s president said Sunday she did not recognize the results of this weekend’s parliamentary vote, which election officials said was won by the ruling party. path towards Europe.

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President Salome Zourabichvili joined opposition leaders in calling on Georgians to protest on Tbilisi’s main street on Monday evening against what she called a “total forgery, a total theft of your votes”, raising the prospect of further political unrest in the South Caucasus.

She spoke the day after an election that could decide whether Georgia embraces Europe or falls under Russia’s rule.

“These elections cannot be recognized because it is the recognition of Russian interference here, of Georgia’s subordination to Russia,” Zourabichvili said.

The Central Election Commission said on Sunday that the ruling party, Georgian Dream, received 54.8% of Saturday’s votes, with almost all ballots having been counted.

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Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian in the past year, passing laws similar to those Russia uses to crack down on speech. Brussels indefinitely suspended Georgia’s EU membership process over a Russian “foreign influence law” passed in June. Many Georgians saw Saturday’s vote as a referendum on the possibility of joining the European Union.

The election campaign in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million, which borders Russia, has been dominated by foreign policy and marked by a bitter battle for votes and accusations of a smear campaign.

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Zourabichvili suggested that “Russian elections” would be held in the country, saying that “technology was used to condone counterfeiting. Something like this has never happened before.”

European election observers said the elections took place in a “divisive” environment, marked by intimidation and instances of vote buying, double voting and physical violence.

During the campaign, Georgian Dream used “anti-Western and hostile rhetoric… promoted Russian disinformation, manipulations and conspiracy theories,” said Antonio Lopez-Isturiz White, the head of the European Parliament’s monitoring delegation.

“Paradoxically, the government further claimed that it was continuing Georgia’s European integration,” he added.

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The conduct of the polls, he said, is yet more evidence pointing to the ruling party’s “democratic backsliding.”

European Council President Charles Michel said he has called on Georgian officials to “promptly, transparently and independently investigate” election irregularities and called on the ruling party to demonstrate its “firm commitment” to the EU.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, a member of Georgian Dream, described his party’s victory on Sunday as “impressive and obvious”, saying that “any attempt to talk about election manipulation … is doomed to failure.”

Hungary’s Victor Orban was the first foreign leader to congratulate Georgian Dream and will be the first foreign leader to visit Georgia and meet the prime minister when he visits the capital on Monday and Tuesday.

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Georgian election observers stationed across the country also reported multiple violations and said the results did not reflect “the will of the Georgian people.”

In the capital Tbilisi, 32-year-old Tiko Gelashvili said: “The results that have been published are just lies and forgery.”

Initial figures showed that voter turnout was the highest since Georgian Dream was first elected in 2012.

The opposition United National Movement party said its headquarters were attacked on Saturday, while Georgian media reported two people had been hospitalized after being attacked outside polling stations.

“The most important question is whether or not these elections will be recognized by the international community,” said Natia Seskuria, executive director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies in Tbilisi. Georgia’s “economic and political prospects” depend on the elections, she said.

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Georgians have a complex relationship with Russia, which ruled the country from Moscow until Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, and Moscow still controls 20% of Georgian territory.

Despite this, Georgian Dream has passed Russian-style laws and many Georgians fear the government is distancing the country from the West and moving into Moscow’s sphere of influence.

The election observers said cases of intimidation and electoral violations were particularly noticeable in rural areas.

Georgian Dream scored the highest share of votes – almost 90% – in the Javakheti region in southern Georgia, 135 km west of the capital. In Tbilisi it did not receive more than 44% of the vote in any district.

Javakheti is predominantly agricultural and many people are ethnic Armenians who speak Armenian, Russian and limited Georgian. Before the election, the AP traveled to the region where voters suggested they had been instructed by local officials on how to vote. Many wondered why Georgia needed a relationship with Europe and suggested it would be better off allying with Moscow.

— Associated Press journalists Sophiko Megrelidze, in Tbilisi, and Raf Casert, in Brussels, contributed to this report.

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