Tbilisi demo urges snap elections for Georgia’s next government

Thousands of Georgians have staged a demonstration in the capital Tbilisi, calling for snap elections after the opposition accused the ruling party of vote-rigging in a highly contested parliamentary vote.

Crowds gathered outside the parliament building on Sunday, with many wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus pandemic.

The Western-backed president and opposition leader, Mikheil Saakashvili, who lives in exile in Ukraine, accused the ruling Georgian Dream party of “massively falsifying the election results.” He has called on supporters to take to the streets “to defend votes.”

“What Georgian Dream did during the elections amounts to a coup, we will force them to call new polls,” said one protester.

Salome Samadashvili, a leader of the largest opposition party, United National Movement (UNM), demanded the “replacement of the totally discredited electoral administration and the holding of a fresh vote.”

“This would allow for maintaining stability in the country.”

Large numbers of opposition supporters also demonstrated in the Black Sea resort city of Batumi.

On November 1, Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said Georgian Dream has garnered 50.58 percent of the votes after some 44 percent had been counted.

The ruling party declared victory soon after the initial results were released. It was, however, unclear whether it would secure the votes required to form a single-party government.

The commission also announced that the UNM only had 24.92 percent of the votes, with several other opposition parties having managed to clear the one percent threshold for membership in parliament.

The opposition claimed that the results failed to correspond with reality.

Separately on Sunday, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said the elections marked an “important milestone in Georgia's democratic development.”

“We will not allow some power-thirsty politicians who pursue their narrow political interests to destroy the country.”

Georgia opposition calls for protests as ruling party claims vote win

Georgia’s opposition calls for mass protests after the former Soviet republic’s ruling party claimed victory in a highly contested parliamentary election.

Observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) say the elections are “far from flawless.”  

Due to Georgia's complex electoral regulations, the final makeup of the 150-seat parliament may only become clear by late November.

In an unprecedented display of unity before the vote, Saakashvili's UNM and smaller opposition groups joined forces and held talks on forming a coalition government if elected.

Elections in the Caucasus country of nearly four million people regularly trigger huge protests, with only one orderly transition of power following a legislative poll in 2012.

The ex-president was forced to flee Georgia at the end of his second term in 2013, fearing arrest after the country’s prosecutors charged him with abuse of power – which he then rejected as politically motivated.

In power since 2012, the Georgian Dream has seen its popularity decline due to discontent over its handling of economic stagnation and allegation of reverting on its commitment to democracy.

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