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    • Pro-Russian party wins election in Georgia; The president calls for protests
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    Pro-Russian party wins election in Georgia; The president calls for protests

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    The president of Georgia’s western ally called for protests after a pro-Russian party won weekend parliamentary elections in the eastern European country amid allegations of voter intimidation and calls from the US and its allies for an investigation.

    In a speech on Sunday, President Salome Zourabichvili refused to recognize the election results, which she said would not “legitimize Russia’s takeover of Georgia”, and called on citizens to protest in the capital Tbilisi.

    “We were not only witnesses, but victims of what can only be described as a Russian special operation, a new form of hybrid warfare waged against our people and our country,” she said.

    In Saturday’s election, the ruling Georgian Dream party took home a parliamentary victory with 53% of the votes.

    But European election observers flagged widespread reports of “pressure on voters, especially public sector employees” and “extensive tracking of voters on election day”.

    The election “took place against a background of entrenched polarization in an environment affected by concerns about the recently adopted legislation, its impact on fundamental freedoms and civil society,” the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a statement. statement.

    More: Russians fleeing Putin’s war on Ukraine find a new home—and a moral dilemma

    “Widespread reports of pressure on voters, particularly public sector employees” and “extensive tracking of voters on Election Day have raised concerns about the ability of some voters to cast their ballots without fear of reprisal.”

    The European Union and the US have called for an investigation into possible “irregularities”.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a “full investigation into all reports of election-related wrongdoing” in a statement Sunday.

    Josep Borrell, the high representative of the European Commission, said in a statement that the Georgian authorities must “fulfill their duty to promptly, transparently and independently investigate and judge electoral irregularities and allegations”.

    Four other pro-Western opposition parties in Georgia rejected the election’s legitimacy and said Georgians should take to the streets – Coalition for Change party leader Nika Gvaramia called it a “constitutional coup” and Tina Bokuchava , from the United National Movement, said the election was “stolen”.

    The aftermath of the election could plunge the country into a “deep and prolonged political crisis,” Royal United Services Institute associate fellow Natia Seskuria said in a statement.

    “Even if the EU recognizes the election results, but the country ends up in a political crisis and with no prospects for the government to commit to the EU’s demands, it is very unlikely that Georgia will be able to move forward on the path of European integration,” she. he wrote.

    More: Georgia defies EU and ‘returns to the past’ with Russian-style law that sparks mass protests

    “Enemies of the country must be banned”

    At his final rally before the election, Georgian Dream leader Bidzina Ivanishvili promised to ban opposition parties.

    “Those who are enemies of the people and enemies of the country must be banned,” he said in an interview on Immedi TV last week.

    The party also supported a law that Zourabichvili called an “exact duplicate” of a 2012 Russian law that helped Russian President Vladimir Putin it represses political dissent and stifles democratic rights. The adoption of the bill in the spring sparked widespread protests in the capital.

    According to the law, organizations that receive more than one-fifth of their funding from outside the country must register as agents of foreign influence.

    Supporters of the bill said it was needed to eliminate foreign interference and Western-influenced operations.

    Zourabichvili vetoed the bill, but her veto was overridden by the Georgian Dream-dominated Parliament.

    Ivanishvili, a billionaire who amassed a fortune in banking and the computer industry after Georgia broke away from the Soviet Union, he campaigned on a platform of keeping Georgia out of the Ukraine War. Although the party says it supports Georgia’s bid to join the European Union, EU leaders say the party’s authoritarian tendencies prevent its admission.

    Georgian Dream has also launched a crackdown on LGBTQ rights, including backing a bill in October that would ban gender transitions and could ban pride parades and the display of the rainbow flag.

    Russian and Western political interests collide in Georgia

    Georgia, an Eastern European country of about 3.7 million people, has been at the center of a tug-of-war between pro-Russian and pro-Western factions since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

    In 2008, war broke out when Russian-backed separatists tried to declare independence for two regions of the country. Russia sent troops and today, those areas remain under Russian control.

    Georgia applied for membership European Union in March 2022 and was granted candidate status the following year. And polls show Georgians have one of the highest rates of support for closer ties with Europe among former Soviet states.

    But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exacerbated the country’s political division. Since the beginning of the war, parts of Georgia have become paradises for Russians fleeing political persecution for protesting the war or refusing to serve.

    Credit: Reuters

    Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Contact her by email at [email protected]. Follow X @CybeleMO.

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