Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said on Oct. 27 that she will not recognize the results of the country’s recent parliamentary elections and called for citizens to join her in mass demonstrations.
The ruling pro-Russian Georgian Dream party won a majority in the Oct. 26 vote, according to Georgia’s electoral commission. Pro-EU parties have disputed the result, and European monitors also said the elections were characterized by intimidation and irregularities.
“I do not recognize these elections,” President Zourabichvili said in a press conference on Oct. 27, as reported by the Echo of the Caucasus.
“These elections cannot be recognized. This is the same as recognizing Georgia’s subordination to Russia. … No one can take away Georgia’s European future.”
Zourabichvili called the result a “total falsification” and described the election as a “Russian special operation.” She urged citizens to join her at Tbilisi’s Freedom Square on Rustaveli Avenue to protest the falsified election.
“We must stand together and declare that we do not recognize these elections, we do not tolerate Russia and its invasion of Georgia in this form,” she said.
“We will stand together. … I would like to invite you all to Rustaveli tomorrow, at 7 p.m., so that we can say together, declare to the whole world that we do not recognize these elections, we are defending constitutional rights.”
The president’s words echo those of former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, an opposition leader, who said that the results “do not reflect the will of the Georgian people” and called for “reasonable forms of protest” to “defend the European future” of the country.
The Georgian Dream party, founded by oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, has led the country closer to Moscow and hampering its EU aspirations. Tbilisi’s adoption of the controversial foreign agents law earlier this year led to the EU effectively freezing Georgia’s accession process, even though it was awarded candidate status last December.
The passing of the foreign agents bill sparked widespread protests across the country.
The party also said it would seek a constitutional ban on UNM, one of the country’s leading opposition parties founded by former President Mikheil Saakashvili, and other opposition groups.
After the results of the Oct. 26 vote were announced, Georgian opposition groups refused to recognize the result and said the election was stolen, pointing to election monitors reporting various violations across the country, including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation.
European election observers also noted concerns with Georgia’s electoral process.
“During our observation, we noted the cases of vote buying and double voting before and during elections, especially in rural areas,” said Ioan Bulai, the head of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“The presence of cameras of the ruling party in the polling stations, and people in front of polling stations tracking and possibly controlling voters, led to the atmosphere of pressure and party-organized intimidation.”
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Oct. 27 that the Georgian parliament will approve the government despite protests by the opposition.