Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said there are always “frauds” in elections, but he denies claims of fraud.
Georgia’s premier hailed the “disastrous” election results and denied allegations of voter fraud and violence.
“Fraud is happening everywhere, in every country,” Irakli Kobakhidze of the Georgian Dream Party told BBC’s Steve Rosenberg in an exclusive interview.
Official provisional results from the Georgia State Election Commission showed that the ruling Georgian Dream party won a clear majority of 54%, even though an exit poll on an opposition TV station suggested the four opposition parties had won.
Georgia’s pro-Western president Salome Zurabichvili denounced the “complete falsification” of the vote and called on opposition supporters to rally outside parliament on Monday.
Election observers in the South Caucasus region, which borders Russia, complained of an “unequal playing field” in the election, suggesting the scale of voting irregularities may have influenced the outcome. I am doing it.
The United States and the European Union support the observer group’s call for an independent investigation. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Georgia’s leaders to “respect the rule of law, repeal laws that undermine fundamental freedoms, and work together to address flaws in our electoral process."
However, the Prime Minister insisted there were incidents in “only a few constituencies” out of 3,111 polling stations, while “the environment was completely peaceful” at all other polling stations.
Georgian Dream, known as GD, has become increasingly authoritarian, recently passing Russian-style laws targeting foreign-funded media, non-governmental organizations and the LGBT community.
The European Union responded by freezing Georgia’s accession, condemning it as a “democratic setback.” Tbilisi was only granted candidate status last December, with an estimated 80% of Georgians wanting to join the 27-nation coalition.
Even before the results came in, one of the EU’s leaders, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, congratulated Georgian Dream on securing a fourth term and is scheduled to visit Georgia on Monday.
Although the ruling party says it is keen to start negotiations to revive the country’s bid for the EU, the sight of Prime Minister Orbán arriving in Tbilisi two days after a contentious election is unlikely to be received favorably in Brussels. Prime Minister Viktor Orban is considered Russia’s closest ally in the EU, and the European Parliament has criticized his government as a “hybrid electoral dictatorship”.
Georgian Presidential Palace
Georgian President Salome Zurabichvili called for a mass rally on Monday, flanked by opposition leaders.
GD considers itself closely aligned with Mr Orbán’s style of social conservatism. Maka Bochorishvili, head of the party’s EU Integration Committee, told the BBC: “Being conservative is not forbidden. Family values are also part of European values.”
Following widespread reports of voter fraud in the election, European Council President Charles Michel said: “Allegations of fraud must be seriously investigated and dealt with.”
Georgia’s prime minister told the BBC: “Of course we have to deal with these irregularities that took place on or before election day.” “However, the general content of the elections was in line with legal principles and the principles of democratic elections.”
Four opposition groups have refused to recognize the election results, accusing them of being falsified and accusing the ruling Georgian Dream party of stealing votes.
Surrounded by opposition leaders, Salome Zurabichvili said the vote would not be allowed and called on people to gather on Rustaveli Street, the main thoroughfare that passes in front of parliament, to “defend our constitutional rights.”
In addition, Nika Gbaramia of the opposition coalition Coalition for Change alleges “a special operation openly planned by Russian intelligence,” but without disclosing details, Russia is interfering in the vote. he accused.
The Coalition for Change and another opposition party, the National Movement, announced they would boycott parliament.
Opposition parties will currently hold 61 seats in the 150-member parliament, but Georgian Dream will win 89 seats. This is a majority, but not large enough to enact the kind of constitutional amendments it wanted to carry out its threat to ban opposition parties.
Two exit polls conducted by a Western polling company for opposition TV stations suggested that the opposition had won, with the GD securing up to 42% of the vote, rather than 54%.
In an interview with the BBC, Kobakhidze accused the opposition of lying, claiming that the opposition also said votes had been tampered with in 2016, 2020 and 2021.
“Of course they have no other choice, so they have to tell their supporters that either they were lying or the government was rigging the election.”
On Saturday, the electronic vote tabulation system was used for the first time, and the prime minister said it made it impossible to rig the election, saying there was “zero room for manipulation”.
The head of the Georgia Election Commission, which oversees the new system, praised the vote as largely peaceful and free, but a very different picture emerged from the watchdog group that released its initial findings.
Georgia’s Isfed organization reported a series of violations, including bribery, intimidation and embedded ballots, and said the results “do not appear to truly reflect the preferences of Georgia voters.” .
Per Eklund, a member of the National Democratic Institute delegation and former EU ambassador, said it was clear that the pre-election period in particular did not meet democratic standards.
“Voter intimidation leading up to Election Day seriously undermined the electoral process,” he said.
Georgian Dream founder and billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has fueled anti-Western rhetoric in recent months, accusing the unidentified “World War Party” of trying to drag his country into the Ukraine war. .
His baseless claims do not mean that his party is adopting Russian-style laws and returning to Russia’s sphere of influence, 16 years after the five-day war in which Russian forces invaded Georgia. This is causing concern.
Russian commentators have widely hailed Georgia Dream’s victory as a sign that Georgia is beginning its return to Moscow.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also criticized the Georgian president’s comments denying the election results and casting doubt on Georgia’s membership in the EU.
“It is simply foolish to think that the EU can still offer a ‘European future’ to anyone,” he said on social media.
In an interview with the BBC, Irakli Kobakhidze rejected opposition accusations that the government is pro-Russian and “pro-Putinist”. He said they were trying to damage the government’s reputation with Georgia’s population of 3.7 million people.
The prime minister said Georgia is the only country in the region that does not have diplomatic relations with Russia, as Russia has occupied 20% of Georgian territory since the 2008 war.
