Tens of thousands of people rallied in Georgia to condemn parliamentary elections

Tens of thousands of Georgians rallied outside the country’s parliament on Monday night to demand the cancellation of a weekend parliamentary election that the president said was rigged with Russian help.

The rally deepened the political crisis in the South Caucasus country, where the ruling Georgian Dream party has become increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow.

“You did not lose the elections,” President Salome Zurabishvili told demonstrators waving Georgian and European Union flags. “They stole your voice and tried to steal your future, but no one has the right to do that, and you won’t let anyone do that.”

Ms. Zurabishvili, a largely ceremonial president, told the crowd that she would defend the country’s path to Europe from the actions of Georgian Dream.

“We have no alternative, and we don’t want to leave anything else from this country for the next generations,” she said.

Giorgi Vashadze, leader of the United National Movement coalition, said the opposition would not take part in any negotiations with the government and would insist on a new vote under international supervision.

“We are not going to enter this parliament. We refuse all mandates,” he said. “We are not going to enter into any negotiations. We will fight until victory and we promise you that we will definitely win together.”

Ms Zurabishvili told the crowd that “it is necessary to build a full picture of how this massive, systematic theft of votes occurred”, adding that it was an “unprecedented, pre-planned operation that deprived us of our votes, our parliament and our constitution”. . She did not provide any evidence.

Protester Natia Chachava, draped in a Georgian flag, said demonstrators “don’t want Russia, we don’t want to go back to Russia or back to the Soviet Union.”

20-year-old student Lana Togonidze expressed hope that the West “will see that the Georgian people do not support this government, we hope that they will not recognize these elections as legitimate and will not confirm the existence of this government.”

Ms. Zurabishvili, who has refused to accept the official results, previously told The Associated Press that Georgia was the victim of Russian pressure against joining the EU.

“We saw that Russian propaganda was directly used,” said Ms. Zurabishvili, a fierce critic of Georgian Dream. She said the government was “working hand in hand with Russia” and had “probably” received help from Moscow’s security services.

The United States and European Union have called for a full investigation into Saturday’s election results.

“Georgians, like all Europeans, must be masters of their own destiny,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

According to the Central Election Commission, Georgian Dream received 54.8% of the votes with almost all ballots counted. The party, founded by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, has passed laws similar to those the Kremlin uses to suppress free speech and LGBT+ rights.

Protest is the only way Georgians can “say that their votes have been stolen, that their future has been stolen,” Ms. Zurabishvili told the AP.

She said she hoped the US and EU would support the demonstrations.

“We need the strong support of our European partners, our American partners,” Ms. Zurabishvili said, adding that a presence in the Caucasus and stability in the region is in the interests of a “strong Europe.”

Asked if she wanted sanctions against Georgian officials, Ms. Zurabishvili told the AP that it was up to Western leaders, but “of course, the time has not yet come to renew relations with the authorities, which at the moment are not legitimate.”

The Kremlin has rejected accusations of interference.

Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili, a member of the Georgian Dream, accused the president of creating a “coup scenario” that “contradicts the constitutional order and democratic elections.”

The EU has suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely due to a Russian-style “foreign influence law” passed in June. Many Georgians saw Saturday’s vote as a decisive referendum on EU membership.

The election campaign in the country of 3.7 million people, which borders Russia, has been marked by bitter competition for votes and accusations of a smear campaign.

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

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

Election observers said incidents of intimidation and other irregularities were particularly noticeable in rural areas.

Georgian Dream received the largest share of votes – almost 90% – in the Javakheti region in southern Georgia. In the capital, she received no more than 44% in any district.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, a member of Georgian Dream, called his party’s success “impressive and obvious” and that “any attempts to talk about election manipulation… are doomed to failure.”

Initial figures showed turnout was among the highest since Georgian Dream first won control of parliament in 2012. The party has vowed to continue pushing for EU membership but also wants to “reset” ties with Georgia’s former imperial master Russia.

In 2008, Georgia fought and lost a short war with Moscow, which then recognized the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions and strengthened its military presence there.