Thousands of Georgians protest in Tbilisi against the "stealing" of the elections

2024-10-28 19:15:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Thousands of Georgians protest in Tbilisi against the "stealing" of

Thousands of Georgians took to the streets of Tbilisi on Monday to protest after the country's president, Salome Zurabishvili, accused the ruling party of using Russian-style tactics in parliamentary elections, the official result of which it refuses to recognize.

Protesters gathered near the main Parliament building in central Tbilisi as criticism mounts of irregularities in the weekend election. Election observers in Georgia say they have uncovered a major fraud scheme that swung the election result in favor of the ruling party.

According to the official results of the October 26 elections, the ruling Georgian Dream party won over 54 percent of the vote, enough to retain full power.

"You did not lose the elections", Zurabishvili told the protesters.

"They stole your vote and tried to steal your future, but no one has the right to do that, and you won't let anyone do that!" she added.

Zurabishvili vowed to defend the South Caucasus country's path to Europe.

Calling for protests, Zurabishvili said on October 27 that the official result was evidence of "a special Russian operation - which is one of the new forms of hybrid war against our people, against our country".

In an interview with the Reuters news agency on October 28, Zurabishvili clarified her comments by saying that she was not directly accusing Russia of rigging the vote. Rather, Zurabishvili said, she was noticing that the "highly sophisticated" methods of using "multiple forms of deception" mirrored the tactics used by Russia's Federal Security Service.

Zurabishvili claimed that the Georgian Dream party has clear ties to Moscow, which she said were evidenced by messages of support for Russia after the election and after the government passed a controversial "foreign influence" law, which is similar to Russian law. for "foreign agents".

The law has been heavily criticized by Washington and Brussels, and parliamentary elections held on October 26 were seen as a test of Georgia's democratic credentials as the country continues its path to NATO and EU membership.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Tbilisi to support the Georgian Dream. Orban, whose country currently holds the presidency of the European Union, was booed as he left his hotel near the Georgian Parliament, where tens of thousands of people had gathered.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze accused the opposition of trying to "shake the constitutional order" of the country and of not accepting defeat. In an apparent allusion to the "foreign influence" legislation, he accused the opposition of standing behind pro-Western NGOs, which he claimed "struggle over the lack of transparency of their finances".

However, Kobakhidze said his government remains committed to European integration, amid concerns that the election could damage the country's relations with the West and that it could show the country is turning towards Moscow.

The elections were characterized by an "uneven terrain, pressure and tensions", according to a joint communique of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and NATO.

Election observers also reported recorded cases of vote buying, double voting, physical violence and intimidation./REL