Tbilisi, 27 October 2024 (dpa/MIA) – Election officials in the Caucasus republic of Georgia on Sunday declared the ruling Georgian Dream party the winner of parliamentary polls, prompting claims of fraud and calls for protests among the pro-Western opposition.

The conservative nationalist party, led by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, secured 54.09% of the votes after almost all the ballots were counted, Central Election Commission (CEC) head Giorgi Kalandarishvili said in the capital Tbilisi.

After counting the votes from 99.6% of the constituencies, some votes from abroad were still missing, Kalandarishvili announced. The provisional official final result was therefore still pending.

Several pro-European opposition coalitions did not recognize the  preliminary result and said that there would be demonstrations, claiming their own victory in the polls instead.

Following the publication of the initial results, Georgia's pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili declared that the opposition had received a total of 52% of the vote and could form a majority in parliament.

In contrast, the election commission put the four opposition blocs that managed to pass the 5% hurdle at over 37% of the votes.

However, the opposition in the former Soviet republic on the Black Sea is divided, prompting the emergence of election coalitions before the vote.

The Unity coalition, led by the largest opposition party in the 2020 parliamentary elections, the United National Movement, received around 10% of the vote, according to the electoral commission.

The rival Coalition for Change is therefore the strongest opposition alliance with around 11% of the votes counted. Two other opposition blocs each received less than 10%.

The opposition fears the country will turn away from its course of joining the European Union, with the incumbent leadership drawing upon images of destruction in Ukraine as a possible consequence of voting for pro-Western parties.

A total of around 3.5 million Georgians at home and abroad were called to vote. According to preliminary figures, voter turnout was around 59% - three percentage points higher than in 2020.

Georgia has a population of 3.7 million and has been an EU accession candidate since the end of 2023. However, the accession process is currently on hold due to controversial laws.

The traditionally divided opposition also fears that Georgia, under the leadership of Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Moscow, will turn further towards its neighbour Russia and finally abandon the EU course. 

Meanwhile, the ruling party founded by Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream, promised peace and stability during the election campaign - and fuelled fears of war with Russia should the opposition win.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were the first to congratulate Georgian Dream on its victory.

Photo: EPA