A billionaire oligarch in Georgia with pro-Putin ties has announced his victory in contentious elections, but allegations of vote-rigging have emerged as opposition parties assert that they were leading in the polls.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the billionaire founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, characterized the election as a pivotal moment that would determine whether Georgia would align more closely with the West or revert to Russian influence amidst the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Accusations of ballot stuffing
Reports surfaced of government supporters engaging in ballot stuffing, assaulting election monitors, and purchasing votes as the Black Sea nation conducted its elections. The Georgian Dream party shifted to overtly support Moscow following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, despite Georgia being one of the most pro-Western countries in the region.
Early official results indicated that, with 70% of precincts counted, the ruling party had secured 53% of the votes, according to the electoral commission. However, the deeply divided pro-Western opposition parties claimed to have collectively achieved a majority. Different exit polls provided contrasting projections; the pro-Georgian Dream channel, Imedi TV, suggested the ruling party received 56%, while pro-opposition channels indicated significant gains for the opposition.
Ivanishvili commends Georgia people
Ivanishvili, the elusive founder of the ruling party and former prime minister, declared victory and commended the Georgian populace. He noted that it is uncommon for a single party to attain such success under challenging circumstances, indicating the exceptional capabilities of the Georgian people.
While Georgian Dream faced losses against the united opposition in some areas of the capital, Tbilisi, it recorded margins of up to 90% in various rural regions. Nonetheless, a parallel count conducted by an opposition party suggested that Georgian Dream remained in a strong position to secure a majority.
President of Georgia alleges vote-buying
Party representatives stated they would review the results in the coming hours but refrained from making any immediate claims of electoral fraud. Despite this, the opposition celebrated their own victory and called for Ivanishvili to concede. Tina Bokuchava, leader of the United National Movement party, asserted that the opposition had won by a significant margin of 10%.
Bokuchava remarked that many people would likely view Ivanishvili’s claims of a government majority with skepticism. She emphasized their belief that the Georgian public had decisively voted for a future at the heart of Europe, suggesting that no amount of posturing could alter that outcome.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, a former ally of the ruling party who has since become a strong critic, along with independent election monitors, accused Georgian Dream of widespread vote-buying and other electoral abuses leading up to the election. Earlier reports indicated clear evidence of attempts to rig the electoral process, including footage of villagers being paid to vote and violent confrontations with election monitors.
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