Georgia’s ruling party is leading the crucial election race that could decide the country’s role in Europe.
The Central Election Commission said the ruling Georgian Dream party had won 52.99% of the vote after 97% of the electronic vote was counted. Not all paper ballots and votes cast by Georgians abroad have been counted.
Both Georgian Dream and the opposition blocs trying to end its 12 years in power have portrayed the vote as an existential choice.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of Georgian Dream, claimed victory almost immediately after polls closed, saying it was “rare in the world for the same party to achieve such success in such a difficult situation.”
Earlier, Mr Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, accused opposition parties of being “an agent of a foreign country that will only fulfill the tasks of a foreign country” – suggesting the West wants Georgia to go to war with Russia.
He also pledged to ban all pro-Western opposition groups if the party wins a constitutional majority.
The pro-Western Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili, who has regularly criticised Georgian Dream, was among the opposition leaders who claimed victory when competing exit polls were released.
Ms Zourabichvili said on X her bloc, European Georgia, had taken 52%, despite what she called “attempts to rigg (sic) elections”.
Nika Melia (L) and Nika Gvaramia, leaders of Coalition for Change, celebrate after polls closed. Pic: AP
Pictures were published of opposition leaders apparently celebrating victory.
There were reports of voting irregularities and a video shared on social media on Saturday showed a man stuffing ballots into a box at a polling station in Marneuli.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said it launched an investigation and the CEC said a criminal case had been opened and that all results from the polling station would be declared invalid.
Sky correspondent, John Sparks, in Tblisi, called it a “stunning result” and predicted many Georgians would find it “unbelievable”, as after 12 years in power, a change of government was expected.
Some exit polls, he said, put the opposition parties ahead, making it a “stunning win” for Mr Ivanishvili, who has moved his party “from being expressly pro-Western to an organisation that is more in line with Russia”.
He said Mr Ivanishvili told voters he’s bringing “peace to the country, not war”.
It was also a striking defeat for Ms Zourabichvili, a French emigre, who had made her number one priority “restarting talks with the European Union”, Sparks said.
After a campaign dominated by foreign policy, many Georgians saw the vote as a make-or-break referendum on joining the European Union or moving closer to its regionally-dominant neighbour, Russia.
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Brussels suspended the country’s membership process after Georgian Dream passed laws restricting freedom of speech in the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million people.
The biggest opposition party, United National Movement, said its headquarters came under attack on polling day.
Georgian media also reported two people were taken to hospital after being attacked outside polling stations, one in the city of Zugdidi, the other in Marneuli, a town south of Tbilisi.