Voters flocked to the polls in Georgia on October 26 to cast their ballots in parliamentary elections seen as crucial for the Caucasus country’s future direction toward either the European Union or Russia.
The elections pit the ruling Georgian Dream party, in power since 2012, against a divided opposition that champions integration with the West.
At noon, the turnout was more than 22 percent, the Central Election Commission said, more than in the past two previous elections in 2020 and 2016, but about 3 percent less than in 2012, when Georgian Dream came to power.
Georgian Dream has portrayed the elections as a choice of peace or war, saying that if the opposition wins, it will drag Georgia into war against Russia.
The opposition has framed the vote as a choice between the West and Russia and between democracy and authoritarianism, a narrative echoed by officials in the United States and Europe who have been critical of Georgian Dream for democratic backsliding.
Some incidents have been reported, although Natia Yoseliani, a spokeswoman for the Central Election Commission, told the media earlier that after “minor technical defects,” the process was taking place “in a calm environment” in all the 3,111 polling stations.
An RFE/RL correspondent reported an incident in the southern city of Marneuli, where a member of an opposition party in a voting station was allegedly beaten up by a Georgian Dream representative amid reports of ballot stuffing.
In Rustavi, a city some 20 kilometers southeast of Tbilisi, RFE/RL correspondent Davit Mchedlidze was verbally abused and prevented from doing his job at a polling station by unidentified individuals who attempted to take his phone away.
A witness told RFE/RL that the unidentified persons were on the territory of the precinct, in violation of the law. Although the police were called, none arrived, the witness told RFE/RL.
A new electoral system means parties or coalitions have to meet a threshold of 5 percent to make it into parliament. That motivated Georgia’s opposition parties to form coalitions that have a reasonable chance of making it over the threshold.
Georgian Dream was founded by billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man. The Kremlin has made no secret that it prefers a victory by Georgian Dream.
After casting his ballot, Ivanishvili urged Georgians to show up and vote in large numbers, while accusing the opposition of being in the service of an unnamed “foreign state” that would drag Georgia into a war against Russia.
Bidzina Ivanishvili casts his ballot in Tbilisi.
“We have a very simple choice: either we elect a government that will serve you, the people of Georgia, Georgian society, take care of the country, or we elect an agent of a foreign state that will only follow orders from abroad,” Ivanishvili said, adding that Georgia would then be faced with “catastrophe and ruins.”
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said after voting that he was optimistic that Georgian Dream would garner about 60 percent of the vote, without explaining his optimism.
“This is a referendum between war and peace, between immoral propaganda and traditional values. This is a referendum between the country’s dark past and a bright future,” he said.
Kobakhidze refused to answer a question about the transfer of power in the event of an opposition victory.
Opinion polls show that Georgians are broadly supportive of joining the European Union and NATO but are also keen to avoid conflict with Russia and are deeply conservative on issues such as LGBT rights.
Among the controversial bills that Georgian Dream has passed is a law requiring groups that receive 20 percent or more of their funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents.”
Opponents dubbed it the “Russian law,” describing it as authoritarian and inspired by similar laws used to curb dissent in Russia.
Passage of the legislation earlier this year drew massive protests and prompted the United States to impose sanctions on several Georgians and threaten to end aid to Tbilisi.
The European Union may consider temporary cancellation of its visa-free regime with Georgia if the elections are “not free and fair,” the bloc’s ambassador to Tbilisi said in September.
Other controversial legislation has clamped down on gay rights.
The four opposition parties that are most likely to cross the 5 percent threshold are Unity — To Save Georgia, a coalition led by the former ruling United National Movement (ENM); Coalition for Change, largely made up of former ENM-affiliated figures; Strong Georgia, an ideologically eclectic coalition that has tried to position itself as neither ENM nor Georgian Dream; and For Georgia, a party that broke away from Georgian Dream.
In the campaign they directed their fire at the ruling party rather than each other, having the common goal of ending 12 years of rule by Georgian Dream and reviving Georgia’s stalled bid to join the European Union.
They have agreed that in the case of an opposition victory, they will allow President Salome Zurabishvili to form a technocratic government that would restore good relations with the West and repeal the most authoritarian laws that Georgian Dream passed in the run-up to the campaign.
Zurabishvili, whose role is largely ceremonial, has been at odds with Georgian Dream.
For the first time, Georgia is using a new electronic ballot-counting system — with a paper backup — with results expected one to two hours after polls close at 8 p.m. local time.