The counting of votes will begin on Tuesday, October 29 in 14% of the polling stations in Georgia, where the pro-European opposition accuses Georgian Dream, the pro-Russian ruling party, of fraud and having ” stolen “ the legislative elections, announced the electoral commission.
the authorities “We will recount the votes in five polling stations in each constituency”according to a statement from the commission, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. According to the almost final results, Georgian Dream, active since 2012, obtained 53.92% of the votes on Monday morning, compared to 37.78% for the opposition coalition.
Brussels and Washington have asked Tbilisi to open investigations into allegations of irregularities. A discordant voice within the European Union (EU), Hungarian leader Viktor Orban has, however, been in Georgia since Monday afternoon to show his support for the Government in the face of these accusations, while thousands of Georgians demonstrated, in the process, in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, to denounce the results of the legislative elections.
“Destabilization attempts”
In an interview given to AFP on Monday, Georgian President Salomé Zourabichvili, breaking with the Government, estimated that the methods to distort the vote had been similar to those used in Russia. “It is very difficult to accuse a government”, “but the methodology is Russian”said the head of state. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “firmly reject” these accusations of interference, accusing Mme Zourabichvili from “Destabilization attempts” of his own country.
According to meme Zourabichvili, the use – for the first time in Georgia – of electronic voting contributed to such falsifications: the same identity document number was found corresponding to “seventeen votes, twenty votes, in different regions”he said, also mentioning more traditional methods, such as vote buying and pressure.
One of the components of the opposition, the Coalition for Change, announced that it was renouncing its parliamentary mandates so as not to “give legitimacy” on the ballot. The opposition, which had initially proclaimed its victory based on exit polls, is now counting on the mobilization of its followers in the streets.
Georgian Dream, however, maintains a solid foundation by effectively exploiting fears of an imminent war against Russia. Georgia was rocked in May by large protests against a law on“foreign influence”inspired by Russian legislation on “foreign agents” implemented to crush civil society. But this mobilization was not enough to abandon the text. In the process, Brussels froze the EU accession process and the United States imposed sanctions against Georgian officials.
