Georgia’s president urges the West to back protests of governing party that claimed election win

Georgia's president calls for Western support amid protests over parliamentary election results marred by Russian meddling allegations.

Georgia’s president on Monday (October 28, 2024) urged the West to support opposition protests of the official results of a weekend parliamentary election in which the governing party was declared victorious amid voting irregularities and allegations of Russian meddling.

President Salome Zourabichvili, who refused to recognise the official results, told The Associated Press that the South Caucasus nation has fallen victim to Russian pressure aimed at derailing Georgia’s plans to join the European Union.

“We’ve seen that Russian propaganda was directly used,” said Ms. Zourabichvili, a fierce critic of Georgian Dream, the governing party. She said the government has been “working hand-in-hand with Russia,” and “probably” received help from Moscow’s security services.

On Sunday (October 27, 2024), Ms. Zourabichvili stood alongside opposition leaders and urged Georgians to join a rally on the main street of the capital, Tbilisi, on Monday (October 28, 2024) (October 29, 2024) night to protest what she called a “total falsification, a total stealing of your votes.”

The Central Election Commission said the Georgian Dream party received 54.8% of Saturday’s (October 26, 2024) votes with almost all ballots counted. The party - established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia – has become increasingly authoritarian in the past year, adopting laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

Protest is the only way Georgians can “express that their votes have been stolen, that their future has been stolen,” she told AP in an interview.

She said she hopes the U.S. and EU back the demonstrations.