The ruling party in Georgia has won a key election, preliminary results show by Reuters

By Felix Light and Lucy Papachristou

TBILISI (Reuters) – A Georgian nationalist won parliamentary elections on Saturday, according to preliminary results, but opposition groups called on the ruling party to concede defeat and allow the South Caucasus country to move closer to the European Union.

Georgian Dream billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, the opposition, and foreign diplomats have billed the election as a decisive moment in whether Georgia moves closer to the West or leans back on Russia amid the Ukraine conflict.

Official preliminary results, with 70% of districts counted, showed the ruling party won 53% of the vote, the electoral commission said, but pro-Western opposition parties claimed a majority.

Rival exit polls gave a very different forecast for the election: The pro-Georgia Dream TV channel Imedi showed the ruling party winning 56%. Polls from pro-opposition channels showed major gains for the opposition parties.

Ivanishvili, the independent billionaire founder of the ruling party and former prime minister, claimed victory and praised the Georgian people.

“It is a rare case in the world that the same team achieves such success in such a difficult situation – this is a good indication of the talent of the Georgian people,” Ivanishvili told cheering fans.

The Georgian opposition also celebrated the victory and some observers reported election violations. But a similar count run by one of the opposition parties showed the Georgian Dream in a strong position to win a majority.

Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, came to power in 2012 promoting Western ideals, along with a pragmatic policy towards Russia.

He caused an uproar in the West, accusing the “Global War Party” of wanting to drag Georgia into war with Russia, as he insisted that Georgia would join the EU.

If a victory for Ivanishvili's party is confirmed, it would be a blow to the EU's hopes of bringing other former Soviet republics into its fold. Moldova on Oct. 20 voted by a very narrow majority to support EU accession.

“The Georgians won. Well done!” said Margarita Simonyan, editor of the Russian news agency RT, which the United States has accused of trying to influence its presidential election. There is no immediate comment from the EU.

IMPORTANT VOTE

Tina Bokuchava, the leader of former President Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement party, told Reuters that the opposition won by a comfortable margin of 10%.

“In that situation, many people will be taking what Bidzina Ivanishvili said that the majority of the government is holding a big bucket of salt,” said Bokuchava.

“We believe that the Georgian public has clearly voted for a future at the heart of Europe and no number of deployments will change that.”

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili – a former ruling party ally turned outspoken critic of her strong ceremonial powers – and independent domestic election monitors alleged that Georgian Dream was involved in vote-buying and other forms of electoral abuse during the election. in the vote.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), an independent election monitoring group in Georgia founded in 1995, says it has documented numerous violations and incidents of violence outside many polling stations.

A video has gone viral on social media showing a man casting multiple votes in a ballot box in Marneuli, a town of about 25,000 people south of Tbilisi. The votes were later declared invalid, a spokesman for the Central Election Commission said, according to the Interpress news agency.

Giorgi Kalandarishvili, who is the chairman of the election commission, said that the voting was peaceful and free, and that the election took place in accordance with international standards.

CHANGE

Some Georgians told Reuters they wanted change.

“I voted for freedom and a European decision,” said voter Irakli Andronikashvili in Tbilisi on Saturday, adding that he wanted a “progressive, corruption-free and reasonable” government.

Georgia was once one of the most pro-Western states to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union. The road from Tbilisi Airport is named after former US President George W. Bush.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Tbilisi's relations with the West have deteriorated significantly. Unlike many Western allies, Georgia has refused to impose sanctions on Moscow, while the Georgian Dream propaganda has turned pro-Russian.

The Georgian Dream has drawn the ire of its Western allies for what they say is its radical bent. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban congratulated the Georgian Dream on “a great victory”.

The study of the exit of the opposition party Formula says that the ruling party is the largest party but the four opposition parties together will have 83 seats.

Georgia's four opposition parties are divided, and it is unclear whether they will be able to work together if they deprive the Georgian Dream of their majority.

Sandro Dvalishvili, 23, a Georgian dream activist, told Reuters last week that Georgia would face “danger” if his favored party lost the election.

“If it turns out that we don't win, for me that will be very bad. Because I don't see another force that will bring peace and stability to our country”, he said.