Election in Georgia: President Zurabishvili rejects the result

Election in Georgia: President Zurabishvili rejects the result

Things are simmering in Georgia after the recent parliamentary elections. President Salome Zurabishvili has decided not to recognize the results of the election and described it as completely fraudulent. Her statement came on Monday in Tbilisi, a few days after the election in which the ruling Georgian Dream party emerged victorious.

The pro-Western opposition, which is angry about the election results, and the national-conservative ruling party are engaged in a heated argument over the validity of the votes. According to official data, the ruling party under Bidzina Ivanishvili received around 54 percent of the vote. This is causing numerous protests and unrest in the country, especially among those who want a clear pro-European majority in parliament.

Suffrage and unrest

Georgia's election authority declared the ruling party the winner on the evening of the election, although at the same time a large number of electoral law violations were documented by numerous international election observers and local NGOs. These papers and statements could make it difficult for the opposition to have confidence in the integrity of the electoral process. The opposition also saw itself strongly represented in the post-election surveys and received around 52 percent of the vote. Nevertheless, the election management only saw support for the opposition blocs at over 37 percent.

The various pro-European groups are alarmed, both for fear of an increasingly pro-Russian course under Ivanishvili's influence and because of the question of how this could affect Georgia's desired EU accession, which has been on the table since the end of 2023.

Around 3.5 million Georgians took part in the elections, resulting in an increased voter turnout of around 59 percent - an increase compared to 2020. However, the government emphasizes the need to ensure stable and transparent electoral practices in order to restore citizens' trust in the political system.

Salome Zurabishvili is now calling on voters to take part in upcoming protests to highlight her point of view and fight against the results she believes were rigged. The question of how Georgia can navigate between the West and Russia in the future remains urgent and will be further discussed in the following days, especially in view of the protests. You can find more about this in a recent article on www.nau.ch.