Tens of thousands protest in Georgia over 'stolen' election

 

Tens of thousands of Georgians protested in central Tbilisi on Monday after parliamentary polls denounced by the pro-Western opposition as "stolen", while Georgia's president alleged to AFP that the vote was rigged using "sophisticated" methods she linked to Russia.

The Caucasus country -- rocked by mass anti-government protests earlier this year -- has plunged into political uncertainty since Saturday's vote, with Washington and Brussels condemning "irregularities".

According to near-complete results announced by the electoral commission, the ruling Georgian Dream party won 53.92 per cent, compared with the 37.78 per cent garnered by a union of four pro-Western opposition alliances.

Georgian Dream has for months been accused by the opposition of steering Tbilisi away from its goal of joining the EU and back into Russia's orbit.

Waving Georgian and EU flags, tens of thousands of demonstrators held a peaceful protest outside the main parliament building in central Tbilisi on Monday evening that ended with calls for further rallies, AFP journalists saw.

Pro-Western President Salome Zurabishvili -- at loggerheads with the ruling party -- told the cheering crowd: "Your votes were stolen, but we will not let anyone steal our future."

"I promise to stand with you until the end, on our path towards Europe, where we belong," she said.

Opposition leader Giorgi Vashadze said opposition parties would not enter the new "illegitimate" parliament and voiced their joint demand for "fresh legislative elections" run by an "international election administration".

One of the demonstrators, university student Irine Chkuaseli, 19, said she had initially felt "hopeless" but since then has become "fired up to fight for the truth".

"We will not stop until these fake (election) results are cancelled," she said.

Speaking to AFP, Zurabishvili claimed that "quite sophisticated" fraudulent schemes were used in the weekend's vote.

She earlier declared the election results "illegitimate", alleging election interference by a "Russian special operation", a claim that was swiftly rejected by the Kremlin.

"It's very difficult to accuse a government, and that's not my role, but the methodology is Russian," Zurabishvili told AFP, adding that it was difficult to deal with a "threatening" Russia.

She claimed that the same identity cards were used to vote multiple times in different regions, that money was distributed outside polling stations, and that there were violations using electronic voting technology.

A group of Georgia's leading election monitors on Monday said that they had uncovered evidence of complex, large-scale fraud and demanded the annulment of at least 15 percent of votes cast.

Defying the EU's concerns over the vote, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- current holder of the bloc's rotating presidency and the Kremlin's closest EU associate -- arrived on Monday for a two-day visit to Tbilisi.

'Irregularities'

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday insisted that EU membership remained a "main priority" for his party and said that he expected a "reset" with Brussels.

The result gave Georgian Dream 89 seats in the 150-member parliament -- enough to govern but short of the supermajority it had sought to pass a constitutional ban on all the main opposition parties.

The polls have prompted widespread international criticism.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken blasted "misuse of public resources, vote buying and voter intimidation", which he said "contributed to an uneven playing field".

An EU parliament mission said the vote was evidence of Tbilisi's "democratic backsliding", adding that it had seen instances of "ballot box stuffing" and the "physical assault" of observers.

A group of EU ministers released a joint statement condemning "the violation of international norms" in the elections, labelling them "incompatible with the standards expected from a candidate" to join the EU.

Germany and France also expressed "concerns" over electoral irregularities.

Orban arrives

Orban, who has retained ties to Moscow despite the 2022 Ukraine invasion, tweeted a message of support for the Georgian government on his arrival in Tbilisi.

"Georgia is a conservative, Christian and pro-Europe state. Instead of useless lecturing, they need our support on their European path," Orban wrote on X.

Later, emerging from his Tbilisi hotel, Orban faced jeers and shouts of "Go home!" from protesters, videos posted on social media showed.

He is set to hold a joint press conference with his Georgian counterpart on Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stressed that Orban on this visit "does not represent" the bloc on foreign affairs.

Georgia was rocked in May by huge demonstrations against a law on "foreign influence", that critics said mirrored Russian legislation used to silence Kremlin critics.

The United States imposed sanctions on Georgian officials following the protests, while Brussels put EU-hopeful Tbilisi's accession process on halt.