ReutersBidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, immediately claimed victory.
Georgia’s ruling party is leading a pivotal election focused on the country’s future path in Europe, according to preliminary results.
According to the Central Election Commission, billionaire businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili’s party Georgian Dream received 53% of the vote (more than 70% of the vote).
The increasingly authoritarian party and four pro-EU opposition groups seeking to end 12 years in power had previously both declared victory based on competing exit polls.
Georgians gathered in large numbers in the South Caucasus region, which borders Russia, on Saturday, and there were numerous reports of voting irregularities and incidents of violence outside polling stations.
One opposition leader in a town south of the capital Tbilisi told the BBC that he was first beaten by a local Georgian Dream councilor, then “10 more men came and I didn’t realize what was happening to me.” There wasn’t,” he said.
Opposition parties describe this high-stakes vote as a choice between Europe and Russia. The vote was seen by many as the most important since Georgians voted for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Matthew Goddard/BBC
Opposition leader Azat Karimov, 35, was beaten in the town of Marneuli.
Immediately after voting ended, a pro-opposition TV station’s exit poll showed Georgian Dream had won 40.9% of the vote, while the four opposition parties had a combined 51.9%. But a poll by the leading government-backed Imedi TV channel gave Georgian Dream 56%.
Some time later, the Central Election Commission (CEC) released its first predictions. The CEC has been criticized for being too close to the government and for rushing through electoral reforms before elections without sufficient consultation.
If confirmed, this prospect would give Georgian Dream a majority in parliament, dashing opposition hopes for the security of a four-bloc coalition government.
Under Georgia’s new proportional representation system, whoever receives half of the votes will win half of the 150 seats.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made her fortune in Russia in the 1990s, told supporters: “It is rare in the world that the same political party achieves so much success in such difficult circumstances.”
However, opposition leaders had a completely different view.
“We believe that the Georgian people clearly support a future at the heart of Europe, and no amount of behavior will change that,” said Tina Bokutsava of the main opposition United National Movement.
“This is the moment. In the future there may be no such moment,” opposition voter Levan Benize, 36, told the BBC. “We know there are a lot of geopolitical risks from Russia, but this could be a pivotal moment, a turning point.”
Vano Shulamov/AFP
Tina Bokutsava, head of the main opposition party United National Movement, said the Georgian people and Europe had won.
Georgia became a candidate to join the European Union (EU) in December last year, but has since faced “democracy backsliding, especially Russian-style “foreign influence targeting groups that receive funding from the West.” The move has been frozen by the EU due to the “power law”.
The Soviet Union may have ceased to exist more than 30 years ago, but Moscow still considers much of the former Soviet empire its backyard, Russia’s sphere of influence.
Georgian Dream’s election promise of a “pragmatic” Russia policy would have been appreciated, not to mention Brussels’ decision earlier this year to suspend Georgia’s EU accession process.
Georgian Dream promised voters that the path to EU membership remains on track, but at the same time rebels are helping the West open a new front in Russia’s war in Ukraine he accused.
Georgia’s neighbor Russia still occupies 20% of its territory after a five-day war in 2008.
Bidzina Ivanishvili’s rhetoric has become increasingly anti-Western, indicating that a fourth term in the Georgian Dream could pull the country back into Russia’s orbit.
After the vote in Tbilisi, Georgians had a simple choice, the party founder said. Either a government that serves the Georgian people, or an opponent of “foreign agents who only carry out foreign orders.”
He has repeatedly spoken of a “world war party” pushing rebel forces to join the war in Ukraine, and Georgian Dream (GD) has been chosen as the peace party. For many voters, this message worked.
“The most important thing for me, my family and my grandchildren is the peace we want for all Georgians,” Tinatin Gveresiani, 55, a GD voter, told BBC News at her polling station in Kogyori, southwest of the capital. told. “Only Georgia’s dream will bring peace,” she added.
Election observers reported a series of violations across the country, ranging from stuffing ballots inside polling places to intimidation of voters outside.
With less than an hour left until voting closes, pro-Western President Salome Zurabichvili appealed to opposition voters not to be intimidated.
“Don’t be afraid. This is all just psychological pressure on you,” she said in a live speech on social media.
Threats against Azat Karimov, 35, local chairman of the main opposition United National Movement in Marnouri, south of Tbilisi, turned violent.
He told the BBC how he was attacked as his team tried to investigate vote tampering by Georgian Dream officials. He also claimed that voters were being bribed to support the ruling party.
“[The Georgian Dream deputy]came with 10 to 20 people…I told him to calm down before the police came. Immediately the deputy started beating me.”
On the eve of the vote, Georgian monitoring groups highlighted Russia’s disinformation campaign aimed at the election.
The Kremlin denies interfering in Georgia’s internal affairs, claiming instead that Western powers made an “unprecedented attempt” at interference.
Earlier this year, Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service SVR, accused the United States of planning a “color revolution” in Georgia.
