Georgian opposition dismayed by western response to ‘stolen’ election

Salome Zourabichvili has appealed to western partners to challenge the “total falsification” of Georgia’s recent parliamentary elections. But a trip to Tbilisi by Hungary’s pro-Russian leader was not what the Georgian president had in mind.

Viktor Orbán arrived in the small Caucasus nation on Monday not to join Zourabichvili and thousands of pro-EU demonstrators decrying the alleged electoral fraud, but in a show of support for the ruling Georgian Dream party. Its de facto leader, the oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, is regarded by the Hungary’s prime minister as a political ally and fellow illiberal strongman.

While Brussels and Washington have expressed concern about the legitimacy of Georgia’s election result because of reports of intimidation, ballot-stuffing and fraud at polling stations, Orbán endorsed it.

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, wrote on Facebook: “The people of Georgia made it clear what they wanted. The patriotic, pro-family ruling party won the election with an overwhelming majority. Bravo, congratulations!”

The European Commission on Monday stressed that Orbán was not representing the bloc on his trip to Georgia, even as his country holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year.

According to Georgia’s Central Election Commission, a body controlled by the ruling party, GD secured 54 per cent of Saturday’s vote. The main opposition forces — the four-party Coalition for Change and the United National Movement founded by jailed former president Mikheil Saakashvili — won 11 per cent and 10.2 per cent respectively.

Zourabichvili told Georgians on the streets of Tbilisi on Monday that there was “no alternative” to European integration, despite what she described as electoral fraud. “They stole your vote and tried to steal your future, but no one has the right to do that!”

Elected in 2018 with GD backing, the president has since become a fierce critic of its authoritarian turn inspired by the Kremlin.

Georgian opposition parties have said they would not take up their seats in the new parliament and expressed dismay at the EU and US’s cautious response.

Charles Michel, president of the European Council, which represents EU leaders, called on the Georgian authorities to investigate alleged irregularities. US secretary of state Antony Blinken likewise called for an investigation while condemning “all contraventions of international norms”.

“This is not the time for compromises or mild words. It’s not about diplomacy, it’s about geopolitics,” Nika Gvaramia, leader of one of the parties in the Coalition for Change, told the Financial Times.

Kornely Kakachia, director of the Georgian Institute of Politics in Tbilisi, said it was incumbent on the opposition parties and election observers to compile definitive evidence of the scale of the electoral fraud, but Georgians could not afford to wait for a more resolute international reaction.

“If they come in a few weeks with proper language, it won’t help. Time is passing. Momentum will be lost,” Kakachia said.

A senior EU official said Brussels was worried about a Maidan situation with violent government repression, referring to the 2014 uprising against Ukraine’s then pro-Moscow government.

Election observers reported widespread violations and intimidation attempts. Some voters received ballots with a dot already marked next to GD, ensuring votes for other parties were automatically rejected by counting machines. Others, suspected to be GD affiliates, were given two ballots, allowing them to vote twice.

“The results, regardless of the outcome, cannot be seen as truly reflecting the preferences of Georgian voters,” said the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy — a monitoring organisation that sent observers to Saturday’s vote.

Antonio López-Istúriz White, who led the European parliament’s observers, said the contest had been marked by “violence, intimidation, hate speech, persecution and repression”.

But the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the main official international observer mission, described election day as “generally procedurally well-organised and administered in an orderly manner but marked by a tense environment”.

Georgian Dream seized on the OSCE’s “positive” assessment as proof the result was legitimate. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Monday said the opposition simply “cannot accept defeat”. “Irregularities happen everywhere,” he added.

Natalie Sabanadze, a former Georgian ambassador to the EU and now at Chatham House, said western officials were probably waiting for more evidence of the scale of the election violations. “Only then we will see tougher reactions, not before,” she said.

The EU has suspended Georgia’s accession process and frozen €121mn in funds after the GD government passed legislation that its critics say will be used to harass and silence NGOs. If the election was declared by international observers to be neither free nor fair, the EU could adopt a “no contact” policy with the GD government, Sabanadze said, in what would be a “dramatic turn” for the EU.

The US earlier this year sanctioned Georgian officials, though not Ivanishvili, for violently crushing protests against the NGO law. Orbán would probably block EU sanctions against Ivanishvili and his inner circle.

Many in the Georgian opposition see Russia’s hand in the alleged electoral manipulation and argue that standing up for Georgian democracy is in the west’s geopolitical interests.

“This is not just an internal issue but a part of a bigger geopolitical game,” said Elene Khoshtaria, the head of Droa, another member of the Coalition for Change.

President Zourabichvili described GD’s alleged election-rigging as “a Russian special operation — a new form of hybrid warfare” and urged western allies not to “collaborate with an illegitimate government”.

Other than Hungary, only Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia have recognised GD’s victory.

Gvaramia from the Coalition for Change said: “The west should understand that Georgia is now alone, surrounded by Russia, pro-Russian neighbours and governed by a Russian shill. We need our friends.”