The President of Georgia does not recognize the results of parliamentary elections and calls for public protests

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Georgia’s president said Sunday she will not recognize the results of this weekend’s parliamentary elections, which election officials said the ruling party won, adding that the country was the victim of a “Russian special operation” aimed at displacing it lost its way to Europe.

Standing alongside opposition leaders, President Salome Zurabishvili called on Georgians to gather on Tbilisi’s main street Monday evening to protest what she called “total fraud, total theft of your votes,” raising the prospect of further political upheaval in the South Caucasus country.

She spoke a day after elections that could decide whether Georgia joins Europe or falls under Russian influence.

“These elections cannot be recognized, because this is a recognition of Russia’s invasion here, the subordination of Georgia to Russia,” Zurabishvili said.

The Central Election Commission said on Sunday that the ruling Georgian Dream party received 54.8% of the vote on Saturday with almost 100% of ballots counted.

Georgian Dream has become increasingly authoritarian over the past year, passing laws similar to those Russia uses to suppress free speech. Brussels suspended Georgia’s EU membership process indefinitely due to Russian-style actions “Foreign Influence Law” passed in June. Many Georgians saw Saturday’s vote as a referendum on the possibility of joining the European Union.

The election campaign in the South Caucasus country of 3.7 million people, which borders Russia, was influenced by foreign politics and marked by bitter competition for votes and accusations of a smear campaign.

Zurabishvili suggested that “Russian elections” were held in the country and said that “technology was used to whitewash falsification.” This has never happened before.”

European election observers said the election took place in a “divisive” environment marked by intimidation and incidents of vote buying, double voting and physical violence.

During the election campaign, Georgian Dream used “anti-Western and hostile rhetoric… promoting Russian disinformation, manipulation and conspiracy theories,” said Antonio López-Isturiz White, head of the European Parliament’s observation delegation.

“Paradoxically, the government further stated that it is continuing Georgia’s European integration,” he added.

The polls, he said, are further evidence pointing to the ruling party’s “backsliding towards democracy.”

European Council President Charles Michel said he called on Georgian officials to “promptly, transparently and independently investigate” election irregularities and urged the ruling party to demonstrate its “firm commitment” to the EU.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Sunday called Georgian Dream’s victory “impressive and obvious” and said that “any attempt to talk about election manipulation… is doomed to failure.”

Hungary’s Viktor Orban was the first foreign leader to congratulate Georgian Dream and will be the first foreign leader to visit Georgia and meet the prime minister when he visits the capital on Monday and Tuesday.

Georgian election observers stationed throughout the country also reported numerous irregularities and said the results did not reflect “the will of the Georgian people.”

In the capital Tbilisi, 32-year-old Tiko Gelashvili said: “The published results are simply lies and fraud.”

According to initial data, turnout was the highest since Georgian Dream was first elected in 2012.

The opposition United National Movement party said its headquarters were attacked on Saturday, and Georgian media reported that two people were hospitalized after the attack near polling stations.

“The most important question is whether these elections will be recognized by the international community,” said Natia Seskuria, executive director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies in Tbilisi. Georgia’s “economic and political prospects” depend on the elections, she said.

Georgians have a difficult relationship with Russia, which ruled it from Moscow until Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, and Moscow still occupies 20% of Georgian territory.

Despite this, Georgian Dream has passed Russian-style laws, and many Georgians fear the government is moving the country away from the West and into Moscow’s orbit.

Election observers said incidents of intimidation and election irregularities were particularly noticeable in rural areas.

Georgian Dream received its largest share of the vote (almost 90%) in the Javakheti region of southern Georgia, 135 kilometers (83 miles) west of the capital. In Tbilisi, she received no more than 44% of the vote in any district.

Javakheti is a predominantly agricultural country, and many people are ethnic Armenians, speaking Armenian, Russian and limited Georgian. Before the election, AP visited a region where voters suggested they were local officials instructed how to vote. Some have questioned why Georgia needs relations with Europe and suggested that it would be better off aligning itself with Moscow.

—

Associated Press journalists Sofiko Megrelidze in Tbilisi and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.